The AHRC Creative Communities team joined the UPEN Annual Conference 2026 – a vital event for academic-policy engagement, reflecting on the use of research evidence in policymaking and exploring how trust is built, maintained, and repaired.
Senior Research Fellow Dr Lauren Baker Mitchell delivered a focused session on ‘Creative Communities: Devolution, Innovation and the Quadruple Helix’, joined by Community Innovation Practitioners Sara Hassan and Lisa Rea Currie to reflect on the role and value of trust and authentic co-creation in research innovation.
Lauren discussed devolution, R&D innovation and how different kinds of locally generated research and evidence can influence policy by profiling learning from the two cohorts of Community Innovation Practitioners, the Creative Communities Policy Labs in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Mayoral Authorities across England, and the new Co-Lab Policy Network Awards 2026.
The Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) is a central space for academics, policy actors, and professional services staff who undertake and support academic-policy engagement.
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