Collaborations

Santander business research and collaboration fund

Santander Universities Global Division aims to support higher education as a means to contribute to the development and prosperity of society. Today, over 1,020 universities in countries throughout the world are members of the Santander Universities network.

In 2010, the Santander Business Research & Collaboration Fund awarded £10,000 to CROME’s Dr David Lain for his project ‘Youth Transitions into Work: a UK Spanish comparison’. This funding enabled crucial comparative research into the role of internships in addressing high youth unemployment and facilitated collaboration between the Institute for Employment Studies and IKEI Research and Consultancy (Spain).

The success of this fed into coordinating a successfully funded €5 million EU FP7 research grant to carry out further research into youth unemployment in the EU. 

Strategic transitions for youth labour in Europe (STYLE): a European commission-funded research project 

CROME researchers are the overall coordinators for this prestigious research project, winning a highly-competitive bid for a European Commission FP7 large-scale grant (€5 million) to study youth unemployment with other researchers from the EU. CROME, in conjunction with the University of Brighton’s award winning Community and University Partnership Programme (CUPP), is collaborating with 24 other leading universities and institutes.

The aim of this project is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the causes of very high unemployment among young people in Europe and to assess the effectiveness of labour market policies designed to mitigate this phenomenon. Over three and a half years, we will deliver on 10 objectives organised around 12 research, dissemination and management work packages.

We use a multi-disciplinary and internationally comparative perspective to identify where policies are working and why. Our research will reveal when and how labour market analysis informs policy formulation, implementation and evaluation.

In an ongoing process, we involve a wide range of EU stakeholders in informing the research and disseminating the results about what works under different institutional conditions. Championing effective collaboration between our research partners and stakeholder policy organisations will be a key marker of our success.

Visit the STYLE website.

The Institute for Employment Studies

The institute for employment studies (IES) is one of the UK’s leading not-for-profit centres for research and evidence-based consultancy in employment, labour market and human resource policy and practice.

Our team has collaborated extensively with researchers from the IES on employment issues ranging from fairness at work to youth training opportunities reforms, winning funding from both the economic and social research council (ESRC) and the European Union. 

Together, we have produced authoritative research of practical relevance to those responsible for implementing programmes and initiatives with the aim of improving employment policy both in the UK and internationally.

Organisational Design and Development Community of Practice - South (ODDCoPs)

Dr Penny Simpson, Principal Lecturer at Brighton Business School and Pam James, Organisational Development Business Partner at Southern Water collaborated on the launch of ODDCoPs in 2013.

The ODDCoPs network provides a local learning and networking opportunity for organisational development practitioners, academics and consultants. The group aims to share knowledge, experience and best practice. Topics of meetings have included organisation design, strengths based organisations, change failure rates and change strategy planning. We have also had presentations, insights and discussion on a number of in-depth organisational case studies.

The network is now 75 strong with individuals from the public, private and voluntary sectors - making for richness of discussion. Approximately 15-20 members of the network attend each meeting, held every two months, with time for discussion of topics in both practice and theory and networking.

If you are interested in attending ODDCoPs events, please contact Penny Simpson, P.A.V.Simpson@brighton.ac.uk, or Pam James, pam.james@southernwater.co.uk.

Working with CUPP to empower local communities

We believe that part of our role is to empower our local community. We work with the Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP) in creating sustainable partnerships. Gilliane Williams from our Law team identified a need for free legal education in the Brighton area.

Building knowledge is critical in developing a capacity to engage with the mainstream legal system, especially given the impact of recent cuts to the legal aid budget; opportunities for citizens to seek advice have been curtailed. We developed a seminar giving accessible, face-to-face education for representatives from Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), disability rights, Community Base, Age UK, along with advocates for vulnerable adults, environmental activists and individual members of the public.

We worked with CUPP to canvas the local community about their key concerns. The overwhelming need identified by this group was for clarification on matters relating to judicial review. We addressed how to identify a judicial review issue and its relation to social issues such as housing, education and human rights. We examined grounds and remedies and pinpointed when it would be appropriate to seek specialist advice.

Seminar evaluation revealed that attendees felt they had benefited hugely from the session – they gained a clearer understanding of judicial review and expressed interest in future sessions. We continue to actively identify ways in which we can collaborate with others to empower our local communities.