'Knowledge Exchange' is the term used to describe the wide range of activities universities carry out with partners and other organisations (eg businesses, charities, community groups) for the benefit of the economy and society.
The KEF system, which is also a measure of a university's impact, assesses the quality of knowledge exchange among UK universities and higher education institutions. It clusters universities with their peers based on characteristics like the amount of research they carry out and how many businesses they work with.
This year saw Queen Mary receive its best KEF results yet, either maintaining or improving its position across all categories compared to last year. The University also increased its position within its cluster, the majority of which are other Russell Group universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and University College London.
The University was shown to have 'very high engagement' in the areas of commercialisation and intellectual property and in research partnerships and public engagement, two areas where it outperformed peers. There was a significant improvement in the areas of 'local growth and regeneration' and 'CPD and grad start-ups', while the areas of 'working with businesses' and 'working with the public and third sector' were scored as 'high engagement'.
Queen Mary's fantastic performance demonstrate its strength in sharing knowledge, ideas and experience to benefit both the local, national and global economy and society, and reiterate its commitment to being the most inclusive, research-intensive university of its kind, anywhere. The results also further demonstrate the positive economic and social impact Queen Mary has on the UK economy.
Professor Colin Bailey, President and Principal of Queen Mary said: "Our results in this year's Knowledge Exchange Framework are our best in three years and that is testament to the hard work of our staff and all those we partner with. I am especially proud that we have seen increases in areas like local growth and that in others, including research partnerships, we outperform our peers."
Dr Philippa Lloyd, Queen Mary's Vice-Principal for Policy and Strategic Partnerships, said: "We know how powerful a role knowledge exchange plays in helping ensure our work helps change people's lives for the better. That's why we're so proud of these results which show that we are leaders in the field of knowledge exchange and that we are harnessing our expertise in research and innovation to tackle society's biggest challenges."
To find out more, visit the Queen Mary KEF webpage.
