Sharing our story

The broadcast of a BBC radio programme in 2001 sparked an educational experiment that, more than two decades later, is still making an impact.

The former Chancellor of the University of Brighton, the late Professor Sir David Watson, a national and international leader in engaged higher education practice, outlined his vision of what a civic institution could look like.

One listener who worked for the American philanthropic foundation Atlantic Philanthropies was inspired by the broadcast. Soon after, the University of Brighton was awarded four years of funding to help turn Sir David’s vision into reality. The result was the creation of the Community University Partnership Programme, CUPP, in 2003.

“Civic engagement presents a challenge to universities [...] not simply to engage in ‘knowledge transfer’ but to establish a dialogue across the boundary between the university and its community which is open-ended, fluid, and experimental [...].

We have created a space where expertise and needs can come together. What makes CUPP particularly interesting is the nature of the dialogue between communities and the university.” Professor Sir David Watson, 2007

Experimenting, evolving, embedding

From the outset, CUPP has developed pioneering partnership programmes that support the co-production of knowledge between universities and communities. These programmes provide the conditions for meaningful collaboration, offering seed funding, mentoring, and structure, while creating space for experimentation to happen within the projects themselves.

Each project becomes a way to explore what working in partnership really means. Informed by a co-produced research question, these collaborations are shaped jointly by academic and community partners - and focused on delivering practical benefit for communities, while also generating insight for the institution. This approach builds trust through ‘learning in the doing’.

Over time, many of the practices developed through these projects, from co-design to student involvement, have become embedded across the University of Brighton. Importantly, CUPP’s work continues to evolve through reflection as well as action.

Reports, research papers, and books produced over the years have helped refine our understanding of what effective partnership and programmes look like and how to continually improve them. This reflective learning, alongside real-world collaboration, continues to inform new ways of working.

Since 2003, CUPP has delivered a wide range of programmes to support this approach. In 2018, it launched Ignite, a fast-track model for developing purposeful community partnerships. To date, Ignite has supported nearly 50 collaborations involving over 100 partners and thousands of people. Backed by UKRI, Research England, the AHRC Impact Acceleration Account, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, these projects have tackled real-world challenges across the region and beyond.

Explore our Ignite programme

A distinctive way of working

As the University of Brighton invests in a series of exciting new multidisciplinary hubs focused on health, sustainability, and social innovation, learning from CUPP, particularly its approach to co-produced research and knowledge exchange, is helping shape their development.

By creating space for local voices and supporting collaborative research, CUPP programmes continue to strengthen the university’s regional connections. This distinctive approach reflects a long-term commitment to addressing shared challenges and continues a civic tradition that has long shaped Brighton’s identity as an applied, community-engaged university.

CUPP through Ignite offers a proven model for building partnerships that are locally rooted, creative, and built on trust.