LARCI announces 9 new Placement Fellowships for 2010
UK universities and research institutions deliver much research that is relevant
to local authorities, but is often under-used. The Local Authorities & Research
Councils’ Initiative (LARCI) is bridging this gap by bringing together academic
researchers and local government policy makers and managers to make research more
accessible to their councils and other local public services.
Chair of LARCI, John Benington, Emeritus Professor at Warwick Business School
said: “LARCI has designed a scheme that gives local authorities an opportunity to
work with researchers and address some of the complex problems that have an impact
on local communities. Academics will benefit from access to local authorities, opportunities
to test and develop theory against real world issues and to do research with a real
impact on people's lives.”
Local authorities will get opportunities to shape the direction of UK academic
research programmes and access to research expertise, data and knowledge. They will
also get the opportunity to develop their own research base and capability.
On behalf of LARCI funding partner, Department for Communities and Local Government,
Rosie Winterton MP, Minister for Local Government said: "The Placement Fellowships
established by LARCI offer a real and important opportunity for practitioners and
researchers to share understanding and skills to tackle some of the most challenging
issues facing our communities. I am pleased at the spread of issues and areas that
are leading the way in this work. I look forward to watching progress and learning
from these placements.”
Each of these new placements is for up to one month and jointly funded by LARCI
and the partnering local authority. Some of the projects to receive a placement
scheme award are:
- Meeting the needs of children and young people – Northumbria University
and Newcastle City Council.
- Early intervention in parental substance misuse: working with expectant
mothers - University of Stirling and Stirling Council.
- Designing low carbon initiatives – University of Bath and Swindon Borough
Council.
- Improving the local economy through small businesses – University of Bedfordshire,
Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire Council.
The Placement Fellowships involve either an academic researcher working in a local
council to help address a problem, or a local council worker placed in a higher
education institution to help them gain research skills.
In welcoming this first round of placements, Councillor Richard Kemp, Deputy
Chair, Local Government Association said: "I am delighted with this first round
of placements which brings universities and councils together to help tackle some
challenges that are of real concern to the local communities and local public services.
This LARCI placement scheme points the way to a future where local government can
better benefit from top quality research and researchers coming from our universities."
Through the scheme academic researchers can gain intelligence about the real
research challenges facing local authorities as well as access to local government
policy makers who can help to inform research.
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Further information
Contact:
Jane Wakefield
RCUK Press and Communications Manager
Tel: 01793 444592
Notes for editors
LARCI is jointly funded by Research Councils UK, the Local Government
Association, the Improvement and Development Agency, the Audit Commission, and Whitehall’s
department of Communities and Local Government. All these funders also contribute
staff time and expertise. It is a partnership and collaborative venture which seeks
bring world-class research to local issues.
RCUK invest £3 billion in research annually, much of which is relevant to local
government and communities and LARCI aims to bridge the gap between academia and
local government to ensure that this research contributes to local policy development,
governance and research capacity development.
To local authorities, LARCI offers opportunities to shape the direction of major
UK academic research programmes, funded opportunities to access research expertise,
access to research databases and opportunities to grow research talent and capacity.
To academics, LARCI offers intelligence about real research challenges faced by
local authorities, access to policy makers to help shape research and funding opportunities.