Upcoming events

DICE Network+ workplace visit

Date: 4th September 2026

Time: 09:30 to 15:00

Location: Loughborough University

DBAA is partnering with DICE Network+ to support researchers attending the Early Career Researcher Community Event and workplace visits. This free event is a great opportunity for ECRs working at the intersection of Digital Innovation and Circular Economy to meet industry partners, expand their network, support their career development, gain practical insights, and explore how their research can drive real-world impact.

Industry visits to:

• Intelligent Energy: a UK leader in hydrogen fuel cells, and learn how cutting-edge engineering is driving innovation in clean energy.

• R3VTech Ltd: a cutting-edge spinout from Loughborough University, whose mission is to create new revenue streams for industry through circular economy approaches, demonstrating research can translate into impactful, real-world solutions.

An online workshop on bridging research and industry cultures will be offered prior to the event. Ideal for researchers with no prior experience of external engagement, the workshop will develop skills in identifying areas for collaboration, crafting compelling narratives with clarity and will start to build a toolkit towards transforming research into action with non-academic partners.  

Industry roundtable: Unlocking the potential of university-business relationships

Date: 16th September 2026

Time: 13:00 to 14:30

Location: Online

Metamaterials early careers conference 2026

Date: 21–22 September 2026  

Time: 10:00-16:00   

Location: Reed Hall, University of Exeter

Are you a PhD student, or early-career researcher working in metamaterials or related fields? Join the Metamaterials Network Early Careers Conference 2026 for two days of networking, professional development, and inspiration from leaders across research and industry. At the event, we will run a bespoke networking session, providing attendees with practical skills to develop connections beyond academia.

Connecting business school research with industry priorities

Date: 25 September 2026

Time: 10:00 to 13:30

Location: University of Exeter Business School, Creative Quadrant

Participation is free and travel costs will be covered.

Join us for an event designed to connect business school researchers with industry professionals who are currently undertaking a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) at institutions across the UK. 

This friendly and supportive event is an opportunity for researchers to meet people actively seeking research-informed solutions to address industry challenges. 

We are seeking expressions of interest from early-career and PhD researchers working in the following areas:

• Sustainable practice
• Leadership and culture
• Marketing
• Digital transformation
• Business strategy

Workplace visit: Exploring the future of digital identity in healthcare 

Date: 8 October 2026  

Time: 11:00-14:00   

Location: Mastek UK Head Office and Green Park conference centre, Reading 

Participation is free and travel costs will be covered.

Join us for a unique knowledge exchange event hosted by Mastek, a leading digital engineering company, at their UK headquarters in Reading.  

While the NHS Number is a strong and universal identifier, it does not currently function as a full healthcare identity system and there is a growing need for a federated healthcare identity framework that builds on the NHS Number.  

This friendly and supportive experience will bring together researchers and Mastek employees to explore the future of digital identity in healthcare.  

The session is designed to connect academia and industry, helping Mastek better understand the research landscape, while offering researchers insight into the industry challenges shaping digital health infrastructure. 

Places are limited and will be assigned according to areas of research interest. 

Case study: Reviving the art of print in York through collaboration and curiosity

Professor Helen Smith founded Thin Ice Press - a museum, gallery, and workshop venue - after she was approached by people keen to use the historic printing equipment she had assembled at the University of York. 

Today, Thin Ice Press collaborates with local businesses, libraries and community organisations, as well as international galleries, contributing to York’s cultural and creative economy while strengthening the city’s international reputation as a centre for arts and heritage.

Past events

Cornwall Business Fair 2026

On the 8th of July, we hosted an exhibition experience at this year's Cornwall Business Fair where we supported researchers and PhD students to gain 

practical experience both communicating their research and building regional relationships.

What we're reading

There's so much amazing work being done across the sector around supporting PGRs and ECRs and encouraging industry engagement. Here are some of our favourite articles from the last month:

• The Partner 2026: our Engagement Manager and member of project partner the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW), Kirsty Kelley, wrote a piece about the project for the ICW's annual publication, The Partner, released earlier this month. We were also grateful to ICW CEO and member of our external advisory board, Frank Lee, for his kind words in his introduction to this edition.

• Interim report: Mapping the supply of and demand for professional development relating to academic …: we were interested to see the findings of this report from UPEN's 'People' area of work earlier this month. Respondents saw connections and networking as a valuable end in itself, and also called for more flexible, tailored training and development. As we continue to trial our initiatives, these are key areas of focus for us.

• The Guide to Collaborative Environmental Research: this set of 'rules of thumb' for collaborative research released by the University of Exeter's RENEW project give some great guidelines for collaborative research. While they're aimed specifically at researchers working in environmental work, the guidance is generalisable to researchers of any discipline. Well worth a read!

• UKRI to drive future tech to next level and back thousands more scientists and innovators through n…: UKRI released its new five-year strategy this month, making clear their focus on funding fewer things better and faster. This includes a new commitment to reduce grant processing time by 50% in the next five years. See also an article from Ian Chapman over on Wonkhe outlining the underlying thinking behind this strategy.

• Government and academia: How government can better engage with researchers: this recent report from the Institute for Government looks at how to improve engagement between policy and academia. It highlights how, perhaps counter-intuitively, the increased academic interest in policy engagement has often led to confusion, duplication, and difficulties in actually using this evidence in governmental decision-making. It gives a number of recommendations on how to improve this, including the need for clear strategies for government departments.

• Some research culture work may be sustaining the practices it seeks to change: we've been hard at work analysing a series of focus groups we funded at universities across England last year. One developing theme is that the culture and structure of universities often produces significant barriers to collaboration. We were therefore very interested to see this article on Wonkhe urging universities to address underlying cultural issues, rather than merely providing resources that compensate for harmful systems.

• More than academia: Expanding career support for doctoral researchers: this new HEPI report calls for careers support for doctoral researchers to expand, particularly with respect to non-academic careers. It finds that a third of PhD students were dissatisfied with the career guidance from their supervisors, and even more than this felt that their supervisors did not make time for “frank conversations about their career.” The general trend is that, despite increasing numbers of PhD students leaving for non-academic careers, the existing careers support often fails to address this.