BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//Columba Systems Ltd//NONSGML CPNG/SpringViewer/ICal Output/3.3- M3//EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20251027T165545Z DTSTART:20251127T170000Z DTEND:20251127T190000Z SUMMARY:The 3rd Brian Robson Lecture 2025: High Hopes\, Hard Realities - Civic Universities at the crossroads UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}r12v-mh9dpt gy-ksh0dj DESCRIPTION:Guest speaker: Prof John Goddard OBE\n\nManchester alongside Newcastle\, Sheffield\, Leeds and Birmingham is one of the initial group of civic universities that evolved in the great Northern cities of the UK. Brian Robson linked two of these cities. He grew up and went to scho ol in Newcastle and based his PhD on the growth of that City. He then no t only went on to an illustrious academic career in Manchester Universit y but also to lead the University’s re-engagement with its city and regi on\n\nIn this lecture John will update the case made in his 2009 NESTA P rovocation to Reinvent the Civic University to the very different econom ic and political environment in which archetypal UK civic universities i n core cities outside London are now operating. John will draw on the re port of the Civic University Commission Truly Civic: Strengthening the c onnection between universities and their places and the follow-on Civic University Network.\n\nJohn will suggest how the ties (and accountabilit y) of this group of universities to their communities have been diluted because of the funding regimes and related competitive pressures driving up the need to raise national and international profiles\, research rep utations and attractiveness to overseas students. Indeed\, the imperativ es highlighted by the Civic University Commission have been working agai nst the grain in these institutions\, and as a result they have some way to go to meet their full potential as ‘truly civic’\n\nBut John conclud e by recognising the policy landscape is changing with the UK Secretary of State for Education proposing (in a letter to Vice-Chancellors) that universities “Play a greater civic role in their communities”. This is a welcome formal acknowledgement by the Government of the importance of u niversities’ civic role and suggests that it could lead to a greater inc entivisation of this in future. This is also a future in which city regi on Mayoral combined authorities - in the context of the forthcoming Engl ish devolution bill - could be pivotal. John suggest this will require b ottom up as well as top-down change. For universities\, a collaborative mindset at odds with prevailing attitudes and practices. For policy make rs across Whitehall silos a clearer incentive structure to collectively support universities’ civic mission.\n\nGoing forward\, John anticipate that the coincidence of multiple crises across the world and populism - which has its roots in left behind places - will have far reaching impli cations that universities cannot ignore. Indeed\, John will argue that i f they do not step up to the plate and assert their civic role as anchor institutions in their places\, the very existence of some universities may be at stake.\n________________________________\n\nAbout John Goddard OBE\nJohn is Emeritus Professor at Newcastle University UK where he fou nded and led the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURD S) from 1977 – 1998 and was subsequently appointed Deputy Vice Chancello r with responsibility for city and regional engagement until his retirem ent in 2008. In 2009 as Visiting Fellow at NESTA he wrote the provocatio n Reinventing the Civic University From 2018 to 2024 he was part-time Pr ofessor of Universities and Cities in Birmingham University. His work st raddles the separate academic and policy fields of city and regional dev elopment\, higher education and research and innovation.\n\nJohn was aca demic leader of the OECD programme Higher Education and Regions: Globall y Competitive\, Locally Engaged (2007) and drew on this in subsequent ad vise for the European Commission\, linking services responsible for regi ons\, for education and for research. This experience in policy and prac tise has informed his academic publications. The University and the City (with Paul Vallance) (2013) which looks into the university from outsid e. The Civic University: The Policy and Leadership Challenges (with Elle n Hazelkorn\, Louise Kempton and Paul Vallance) (2016) considers how uni versities can best manage engagement with civil society globally and loc ally. Both volumes informed the work of the UK’s Civic University Commis sion where John acted as Vice Chair and advised on the establishment of the Civic University Network which supports over 100 UK universities and is based at Sheffield Hallam University where John is Visiting Professo r and Senior Policy Advisor to the National Civic Impact Accelerator pro gramme\n\nJohn has been awarded the Victoria medal of the Royal Geograph ical Society\, the Sir Peter Hall Award of the Regional Studies Associat ion\, elected a Fellow of the Academia Europaea. In 2012 he was awarded the Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award for Higher Education Informa tion about his forthcoming autobiography can be found here His latest bl og is https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/08/02/weekend-reading-rethinking-the-r ole-of-place-in-uk-higher-education-policy/\n___________________________ _____\n\nBrian Robson Lectures\nThe Brian Robson Lecture is a biennial e vent named in honour of Brian Robson OBE\, Emeritus Professor of Geograp hy and Founder of Centre for Urban Policy Studies (now the Spatial Polic y and Analysis Lab) at The University of Manchester\, who died in June 2 020. STATUS:TENTATIVE TRANSP:TRANSPARENT CLASS:PUBLIC LOCATION:Cordingley Theatre\, Humanities Bridgeford Street\, Manchester END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR