Akademi, a London based charity, has been taking South Asian dance into schools for over 40 years, pioneering the use of South Asian dance in these spaces. Reach Out and Reveal (ROaR), a project working specifically with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) schools, has been delivered since 2018 to support the physical, emotional and … Continued
On Friday 5 September 2025, the UK Science Minister Patrick Vallance announced a three-month pause on the work of the 2029 Research Excellence Framework (REF). This was to evaluate and reflect on how the framework can best assess research excellence by reducing bureaucracy. On Wednesday 10 December 2025 at the Universities UK Research and Innovation … Continued
The government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper sets out an ambitious and largely welcome agenda: a more joined-up system, clearer pathways, stronger employer engagement and a renewed focus on higher-level skills as a driver of growth. Many of its core themes will feel familiar to those working across higher education, further education and cultural organisations. In fact, much of what is proposed … Continued
Not all casual encounters with/at academic institutions with infrastructure can result in ‘outcomes’. Yet for me in a rare serendipitous meeting it ‘did’! In my case it was slow sprinkled with prolonged silences of not-knowing, unknown/erratic eruptions of thoughts, vague discussions sometimes random conversations but at other times a quiet, simmering marination evolving deep within … Continued
Summary This blog post has been written following an NCACE Evidence Café event held in November 2025 on the theme of this blog’s title. It uses data from REF 2021 Impact Case Studies to identify formal collaborations between universities and cultural institutions, discussing the dynamics of how knowledge is produced and what drives transformative collaborations. … Continued
Introduction NCACE’s Evidence Café series has been an important and ongoing part of our work since March 2021. They are online events that support presentations, showcasing knowledge and evidence, information sharing, and storytelling. They act as a community for knowledge sharing and exchange in and around the theme of cultural knowledge exchange. Over the last … Continued
Reflections on YorVoice: a radical, interdisciplinary project bringing together researchers working on the human voice Your voice is unique. It contains information about your identity, mood, health – even your humanity. It also affects how you navigate the world; people judge us based on how we sound, while the growth in speech AI means that … Continued
New cultural spaces for independent practice-based research outside of Higher Education during shifting times. In the concluding chapter of Spatial Relations: Dance in the Changing Museum my PhD thesis (2020, Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University) I made a call for a new role for dance research in the contemporary art museum. It was the … Continued
Introduction In mid-September University Commercialisation and Innovation Policy Evidence Unit (UCI), NCACE and RNCM came together to host a rich and timely workshop on Improving data and metrics to better capture the value of university knowledge exchange: insights from the arts and humanities and cultural sectors. We did so to create a space for discussion … Continued
In a recent discussion paper ‘The Public Value of Arts and Culture’, Mariana Mazzucato calls for vital investment in our cultural ecosystems. Arguing for networks beyond those that safeguard existing institutions, Mazzucato identifies the importance of ‘bringing arts to people where they are […] across the entire arts and cultural ecosystem, spanning industries, public programming, … Continued