University of Brighton secures top ratings for business, research and community partnerships

Published by Research England on 7 October, the latest Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) results assess how universities work with external partners to benefit the economy and society.

Brighton has achieved ‘very high engagement’ – the highest rating – across four key areas: working with business; research partnerships; working with the public and third sector; and public and community engagement. Only one other English university, Imperial College London, achieved very high engagement across all four areas.

Professor Rusi Jaspal

The results mark further progress for Brighton. The University now achieves very high engagement in four of the seven KEF areas, compared with three in last year’s ratings, with working with business moving from ‘high’ to ‘very high’. IP and commercialisation has also moved from ‘low’ to ‘medium’. Overall, Brighton achieves high or very high engagement in five of the seven areas.

Community engagement remains a sustained strength, with Brighton recognised in the highest engagement group for public and community engagement throughout the KEF.

Across the city and the wider Sussex region, that strength can be seen in partnerships improving people’s lives, supporting businesses and entrepreneurs, strengthening public services and helping communities tackle local challenges.

Professor Rusi Jaspal, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research & Knowledge Exchange) at the University of Brighton, said:

“These results show the University of Brighton at its best: outward-looking, ambitious and deeply connected to the businesses, organisations and communities around us.

“To be one of just two English universities achieving the highest level of engagement across these four areas is fantastic recognition of what our staff, students and partners are accomplishing together. It is particularly encouraging to see our work with business move into the highest engagement group.

“We are also hugely excited about what comes next. Our ambition is for Brighton to be an increasingly powerful engine for innovation, opportunity and positive change across our city and region, advancing enterprise and equity by working with our partners to turn knowledge, ideas and expertise into real-world impact.”

In Brighton & Hove, the university worked with Brighton & Hove City Council, NHS Sussex, Healthwatch Brighton & Hove and Brighton and Sussex Medical School to lead Health Counts 2024, the city’s largest adult health and wellbeing survey. Carried out every ten years, it drew on responses from 16,729 residents to build a detailed picture of health needs and inequalities to help inform local services.

Brighton’s growing role in supporting business and enterprise is also reflected in KEF6, with its rating for working with business rising to ‘very high engagement’. Earlier this year, the university launched the NatWest Accelerator at its Moulsecoomb campus, offering entrepreneurs free workshops, mentoring and workspace, helping more businesses across Sussex access expert support.

In Hastings, people with lived experience of drug and alcohol recovery are helping to change how frontline workers understand and support others facing similar challenges. Through a partnership with the Seaview project and East Sussex County Council, supported by Brighton’s Ignite programme, peer recovery trainers are now delivering training to professionals, including housing officers and police. By sharing their experiences and insights they are challenging stigma, shifting attitudes, and demonstrating that recovery is possible.

Brighton is building on these strengths through its Innovation Hubs, bringing together university expertise and external partners around three areas with significant potential for the region: Health, Clean Growth and Community Prosperity.

The Hubs will create new opportunities for collaboration and innovation, helping turn research and expertise into practical solutions to shared challenges. They form part of Brighton’s wider ambitions for enterprise and equity, working with partners to create economic and social impact across Sussex and beyond. Find out more about the Knowledge Exchange Framework and KEF6. For partnership enquiries, email collaborate@brighton.ac.uk.