March Signpost

Welcome to our monthly signpost — pulling together some of the policy-focussed research across the University of Leeds.

Engaging with policy through Areas of Research Interest

The University of Leeds and Leeds City Council have a long-standing partnership that encourages collaboration between researchers and policy makers.

In the last year, we’ve worked with the Council to identify a number of Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) to better direct these collaborations towards pressing policy needs of the Council and the people of the City Region.

You can read more on how these ARIs were developed, and how they’re being implemented, in Partnering with Leeds City Council to identify local knowledge needs

New centre launched as part of new Government Fintech initiative

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) was launched in Leeds, with backing from HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation.

The new organisation will act as a central convening force, leveraging expertise from across the financial innovation space to drive growth in the sector — and maximise economic growth for all regions of the UK. The Centre also will launch financial innovation hubs across the UK, including in Leeds.

Professor Iain Clacher, from the University of Leeds Centre for Financial Technology and Innovation, confirmed the CFIT will be working with universities consortium the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment and said the Centre will “help build the critical mass of experts with the right skills to accelerate the adoption of best in-class climate science into institutional investment in the UK and globally.”

Find more information on the CFIT website

A vision for culture, health and wellbeing

The connection between culture, health and wellbeing is a cornerstone of cultural policy.

With a wealth of research evidence existing in this area, the Centre for Cultural Value has performed an extensive literature review to create their Vision paper: Culture, health and wellbeing.

An easily navigable document which draws an exceptionally large body of research together, this vision paper provides insight into the key findings around the nexus between culture, health and wellbeing.

Across the University of Leeds

Research by academics in the University of Leicester, University of Leeds and others has found that in-house pharmacists can improve safety for care home residents. The large-scale study shows evidence that specially trained pharmacists can better address complex combinations of medicines, with the potential to reduce side effects and associated risks.

Colleagues from the IDEA Centre, Sustainable Research Institute and School of History have found that carbon rationing offers a fairer option for tackling climate change. The authors argue that carbon rationing would allow people to receive an equitable portion of resources based on their needs, therefore sharing out the effort to protect the planet.

Associate Professor of Viral Oncology, Stephen Griffin, writes that the UK needs to rethink its decision to stop boosters for young and healthy people. The article in the Conversation examines the current COVID situation in the UK, and outlines the impact of receiving boosters for the young and healthy, as well as those with clinical vulnerabilities.

Coming up

We have a number of events over the next month where researchers from across the University are sharing their policy-relevant expertise.

Tackling food poverty *New date*
Dr Effie Papargyropoulou, Associate Professor in Sustainable Food Networks, will be sharing evidence on the role of food hubs in fighting poverty. You can book your place on this event via the Global Food and Environment Institute’s Eventbrite page

This has now been postponed to Wednesday, 17 May, 12 noon — 12:40pm

Understanding workers’ protests globally
The launch of The Leeds Index is being held at County Hall, London on Monday, 27 March (12:30pm — 4pm). Join speakers from Leeds University Business School and a number of other labour organisations and researchers for an insight into this new interactive tool used to analyse global employment relations. This is being held as a hybrid event. To book, please visit the Leeds University Business School website

Reducing food waste
The Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum will be hosting a conference exploring Next Steps for Food Waste and Reporting, on Thursday, 23 March (morning) with speakers including University of Leeds researchers Dr Gulbanu Kaptan, Associate Professor in Behavioural Decision Making, and Dr Carrie Bradshaw, Lecturer in Law. To find out more about this event, and to book, visit the Westminster Forum Projects website

Engaging with Parliament
Policy Leeds and the Priestley International Centre for Climate will be welcoming Dr Tamsin Edwards to the University on Tuesday, 7 March (12 noon — 1pm) for a session on how to engage with the UK Parliament around climate and environmental research. The event is in person and being held in the School of Earth and Environment. For further details, visit the Priestley International Centre for Climate’s website.

Find more information on policy collaborations from across University of Leeds on the Policy Leeds website If you would like help connecting with researchers at the University, please email policyleeds@leeds.ac.uk