Upon joining the Heritage Innovation Fund cohort in January 2023, it was our intention to bring universities together to form a Heritage Innovation Network that aligns strategic priorities for the benefit of the heritage sector. As we were allowed time to explore and research however, we realised that there is more work to be done to support the heritage sector in their engagements with universities before the impact of a higher education-led network could be maximised.

We therefore changed our approach to the 8-month Explore Phase to focus more on the heritage sector. We conducted desk-based research into 30 organisations within the Heritage Innovation cohort to examine their alignment with university drivers and existing connections with higher education. We subsequently built on this research by conducting surveys with 23 heritage organisations both within the Heritage Innovation cohort and nationally. This process enabled us to conduct a comprehensive review of heritage-higher education partnerships in the UK and to identify areas of need within both sectors.

The key findings of this research were used to inform three online CPD sessions about working with higher education; one aimed at National Lottery Heritage Fund Relationship Managers specifically and two for wider heritage organisations. These sessions were successful in terms of engagement and provided further opportunities for us to learn more about the steps needed to support collaboration between heritage and higher education prior to the construction of a higher education-led Heritage Innovation Network. The presentations given in the two latter sessions can be accessed below.