Engagement is one of the three strategic priorities of the University as described in the Strategic Plan.

There are many benefits to carrying out engagement to the University, its staff and students as well as to the wider community and society.

Visit the Why Engage section for more information.

Lancaster University’s working definition of engagement is:

‘‘Building collaborative, sustainable relationships with partners and communities for mutual benefit to create positive economic, cultural, societal and environmental change through research, teaching and institutional activities.”

This is a very wide definition that encompasses the broad range of engagement activities and initiatives that take place at the University.

Bear in mind that staff, students and people from external partners may have their own meaning/s of this term and be using it in a different context. Some may be using it more narrowly or talking about a specific type of engagement such as public engagement, research engagement, staff or student engagement for example.

Some of the main ones are;

• Civic and Cultural Engagement
• Business Engagement
• Media Engagement
• Policy Engagement
• Public and Community Engagement

However, this list is not exhaustive! Visit the types of engagement section for more details.

Impact is, “The effect, change or benefit research has upon the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia; includes risk/harm reduction your research makes.” (Research England definition for the Research Excellence Framework - REF).

Engagement activities are often the things that are done/the activities that can lead to research impact, although other factors can stimulate or contribute to research impact.

For example, academic involvement in Eden Project Morecambe (a civil engagement project to regenerate Morecambe) presents opportunities for engagement (inputting into curriculum development, work with local policymakers, etc). If the involvement is research-informed there could be subsequent research impact, e.g. local schools have changed their teaching practice, or local policymakers have initiated a new tourism strategy for the region.

Knowledge Exchange and engagement are both broad terms that are often used interchangeably.

The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) is a measurement of how higher education institutes are serving the economy and society for the benefit of publics, businesses and communities. The metrics used for the KEF include many, but not all, of the engagement activity carried out by the University. For example, the KEF is assessed through metrics provide an indication of the Business Engagement and Public and Community Engagement activities taking place. However, it does not capture policy engagement, for example.