I am finalising ideas for a talk next week for the Praxis programme at the University of Leeds, considering how best to engage with the policy progress from an academic standpoint. I have been asked to talk due to my career path which has weaved backwards and forwards between industry and applied research as a very practical academic and hands-on manager (of projects, people and bits of Universities and charities), always within or closely aligned to the heritage sector.
The organisers are indulging me, so I have prepared the short talk from a autobiographical standpoint, using some case studies to illustrate different points on a personal journey working between policy and practice over an extended period (rather than advising on policy input per se). I am hoping that this may be a useful counterpoint to the typical “here’s what is expected of you as researchers to achieve impact” to think about longer term opportunities and trajectories for not only applying findings back into policy as an influencer, but also career and skills development, as well and managing different requirements and expectations of stakeholders along the way.
It has been a useful exercise for me in the preparation of the talk to begin to see the common threads in some of the wildly different and disparate things that I have been involved with over the last 25 years, and remind myself about still useful and relevant items stored in the far reaches of my files and notes.
Heritage Futures 