Building Non-Academic Partnerships through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs)

by Carly | Aug 24, 2021 | Events, Funding Opportunities | 0 comments

Colleagues share their insights into applying for KTP funding

The latest event in the SEEDs of Change seminar series was all about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). KTPs are specific projects that involve a non-academic partner (a UK registered organisation, including charities), an academic team and a graduate KTP Associate, who’s based within the partner organisation. These projects are a great way to use academic expertise to solve ‘real-world’ problems, and can lead to larger projects and non-academic impact.

Three academic colleagues who are working on KTPs gave us their insights into the process. Terry Hanley is working with colleagues in Computer Science and an Artificial Intelligence company on a project that’s investigating whether it’s possible to detect vulnerability in customers’ voices during telephone calls. Terry was brought into the project for his particular expertise in counselling psychology, and the use of technology in therapy. “Working alongside the company and the AI experts at the University is developing my knowledge. It’s been really interesting working in a more collaborative way”, he said.

Ali Browne’s project with a water consultancy company is looking at embedding social science methods into the company’s ways of working to help them predict water demand. “There have already been some early publications”, Ali explained. “The benefit for us is that there’s lots of interesting questions about how you actually create change from these conceptual perspectives. So there’s a lot of academic benefit and impact as well as benefits for the company, who will be growing a social science team and enhancing their competitiveness and productivity.” We also heard from Joe, the KTP Associate on this project, who told us that the work is allowing him to develop his skills and his professional network as he manages the project. He said: “so far the experience of working with academia and a private organisation in a very structured setting has been a fantastic benefit. It’s the support from the University, but also being embedded within the company as a regular member of staff and really getting to grips with what they do as an organisation”.

Martin Evans is working with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to trial new methods of erosion control for peatlands. Martin explained how the project has grown from an already existing relationship: “it kind of meshed with the way we tend to work with them anyway, which is sort of as academic consultants on a lot of projects that they’re doing. It’s attractive to them because it’s an opportunity to do a project with some of the money provided by UKRI”. Martin also highlighted the excellent support he received during the application process, as the funder’s requirement to articulate the project’s expected economic benefits can be tricky for a non-commercial partner to address. “Because of the way the forms are put together, it’s very business-focused, if you’re a wildlife NGO the language doesn’t come easily!”

How to apply for a KTP

There’s lots of support available at every stage of the application process, and we heard about this from Joanne Summers, Knowledge Exchange Manager. Her key points were:

A KTP is a three-way partnership. It begins with the non-academic partner who has an idea and a strategic plan for growth, but has identified a knowledge gap. This may be a partner you already have links with but if not, Jo facilitates introductions between the potential partner organisation and academic colleagues with specialist expertise in the identified area. It’s therefore a good idea to keep your research profile up to date.
Projects can last between 12 – 36 months and include 10% academic time, shared among the academic project team.
Jo leads the application process, working with the partner and the academic team. There are application deadlines throughout the year and the success rate is over 80%.

Jo is our contact for KTP support in Humanities, so do get in touch with her if you’ve any questions.

Other Business Engagement Support

If a KTP doesn’t seem quite the right fit, Rachel Kenyon from the Business Engagement team shared some of the other avenues that are worth exploring if you’d like to work with a non-academic partner. The Business Engagement team can help with relationship development and setting up partnerships. They can also help with consultancy work, which can be a great way to start a relationship with an organisation that might lead to a KTP or other larger project.