Written by Dr Amy Newman, Impact & KE Training Officer at University of York.
What’s the best way of becoming fully immersed in a new topic? Attending a conference is definitely up there, and having it by the seaside helps!
I work at the University of York and I’m pretty new to Knowledge Exchange. After finishing my PhD I spent three years at an educational nonprofit managing evaluation projects then I joined York about five months ago, where I am the Impact and KE Training Officer. The aim of my role is to deliver a university-wide programme of training and related activities about impact and KE, for both researchers and professional services staff.
Being new to KE, I entered the competition to attend the PraxisAuril 2024 conference because I was keen to understand more about the wider landscape and to make connections outside of York.
This was my first time visiting Blackpool, and when I arrived I decided to walk the couple of miles along the seafront from the train station to my hotel, which helped me to get a feel for the town. Hearing the keynote address at the conference the following morning was an eye-opener and brought home the stark reality of regional inequalities in the UK; it also helped me to understand the challenges Blackpool faces. The importance of place and context, as discussed during this session, became a recurring theme of the conference.
Other sessions I attended at the conference were full of valuable advice and inspiring examples of KE activities. I was particularly interested in the talks from the University of Lincoln, St George’s and Edge Hill about setting up new initiatives and bringing about change. As my academic background is in biology but my remit at York is university-wide, I was also keen to explore KE in other disciplines - my highlights were talks from Central Saint Martins and Durham University. I was struck by how diverse different institutions’ approaches were, yet all were motivated by making a positive difference.
I appreciated the chance to meet other KE professionals throughout the conference and to compare notes. I feel that while our institutional contexts may be different, we all face similar challenges and there are always things we can learn from each other.
For me, the conference felt more practical and forward-facing than academic conferences I’d attended during my PhD, which I thought was great and definitely what I needed for the stage I’m at now. I came away with practical tips, new LinkedIn connections, and lots to think about!
Dr Amy Newman
Impact & KE Training Officer, University of York