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The University of Leicester – CroSS

Building social science professional's capacity and capability in Commercialising Research out of Social Sciences (CRoSS)

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Challenge

The University of Leicester received funding through the ESRC Commercialising Research out of Social Sciences (CRoSS) scheme, to:

  • Build social science researchers and knowledge exchange professionals capacity and capability
  • Identify and support social science research commercialisation opportunity outputs

The university’s Research and Enterprise Department (RED) commissioned us to help deliver the first phase of the programme to report the university’s work and their strategic social sciences commercialisation support plans back to the funder.

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Approach

The work was delivered in four ‘lots’:

  • Lot 0: Audit – A systems, policies, processes, and template document review assessed social sciences (SocSci) commercialisation suitability.
  • Lot 1: Training – A one-day training session on SocSci research commercialisation best practices (including the Aspect toolkit).
  • Lot 2: Stakeholder Feedback – Surveying and interviewing selected social science researchers and academic staff.
  • Lot 3: Recommendations – Current capabilities gap analysis and matrix of suggested interventions (informed by Lots 0-2).

We supplemented the training course with two workshops in which we presented analysis findings and sought feedback from internal stakeholders. A set of findings and recommendations slide decks, along with data from the survey and interviews, was delivered back to the University of Leicester.

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Impact

Collaborating with the RED team throughout the project helped us co-design the course and survey/interviews, ensuring feasible final recommendations in the university’s context. The analysis helped the RED team submit a well-informed report to their funders and agree on next steps and priorities to move their plans forward.

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The project also facilitated knowledge exchange between social science researchers and the commercial sector, ensuring long-term benefits for both academia and industry.

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