The University of Bath's culture of working in partnership with external organisations has been acknowledged in the latest Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF5), published by Research England on 23 September and summarised in the ‘polar-cap’ chart above.
The latest KEF results acknowledge the University of Bath’s culture and practice of working with external organisations in partnership. The University, through its 'Working with Business' (all organisations) is helping to address real world challenges, such as developing sustainable alternatives to palm oil. Palm oil ingredients are used for a range of everyday products from food ingredients to cosmetics but at a cost of widespread deforestation. The partnership is discovering new alternatives to palm oil that are sustainable and designed to curb the devastating impact of harmful deforestation.
The University has also been recognised for ‘IP and Commercialisation’. The challenge for many life-saving modern biological medicines is their sensitivity to temperature and fragility on transportation. This leads to costly and challenging transportation needs and high levels of spoilage. Research at the University has led to the development of technology that increases the shelf-life of antibodies, vaccines and other biological products. This patented technology is now being developed to deliver storage and transport solutions for life-saving medicines through the University spin-out, Ensilitech Ltd.
Ensilitech is a multi-award-winning company at the forefront of developing the latest stabilisation technology that will transport critical medicines, getting them to where they are needed globally. More on how our technology is making vaccines stables at all temperatures.
A further example relating to public health is working with Wessex Water to interpret the health of a population through analysis of wastewater. This innovative work has led to the development of a wastewater-epidemiology tool. The tool is designed to provide indicators of human exposure to chemicals that may adversely affect human and animal health and the environment and enable preventative and/or remedial interventions.
Dr Jon Hunt, Executive Director of Innovation at the University of Bath said:
It is great to see our culture of working in partnership with external organisations has been acknowledged. As we refresh our approach to listening and working with external organisations, the importance of our partner experience, combined with our desire to solve the worlds challenges, will grow. Whether in skills, talent or collaboration, we’re open for business.
Dr Steven Boakes, Head of Business Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange a the University of Bath, says:
The results of KEF5 reflect the University’s continuing mission to work more with partners that are delivering benefits and real-world impact. And while good progress has been made, the mission continues to expand KE and co-create meaningful impact.
KEF Cluster X institutions: Bath, Brunel, LSE, Loughborough, Royal Hollaway & Bedford New College, Durham, Hull, Kent, Surrey, York, Birbeck, Keele, Lancaster, UEA, Essex, Leicester, Reading, Sussex.
Figure information continued: The Knowledge Exchange Framework outcomes are published annually, reporting on the performance of Higher Education Providers in areas of external engagement such as contract research, consultancy, public engagement, and commercialisation. These activities are divided into seven perspectives, with each perspective scored against a quintile for the comparator group or “cluster” and compared to the cluster average. See the dashboard published by Research England.