Knowledge Exchange

iGGi promised its funder to support knowledge exchange (KE) between academia and industry. This has been formalised in the iGGi training programme as a mandatory, minimum two month activity by each student, typically in year 2 or 3 of their studies. Commonly called “placement”, this KE activity can actually take a large range of forms. To help students, supervisors, and external partners understand the shape of KE activities, this page provides a set of clear guidelines and templates.

UKRI and the EPSRC set out guidelines for work placements and similar activities that inform the following guidelines:

1. Any paid or unpaid work should not interfere with finishing the PhD in time (EPSRC).

2. Students may undertake a work placement or internship where this is either directly related to the Student’s training, or provides valuable transferable skills and, provided this is well justified and approved in advance by their Supervisor and Research Organisation. The placement may be an integral part of the award, in which case a suspension or an extension of the Student’s funded period is not required. In other cases, there may be a case for the award to be extended. However if a placement is not directly part of their doctorate programme or the Student is receiving a payment for the placement, then the Studentship should be suspended (UKRI Training Grants Terms and Conditions Guidance, item 5)

For further detail on what is expected of a Knowledge Exchange, please familiarise yourself with the guidelines.

There are three reports that must be completed in relation to a KE engagement, in addition to the studentship contact. 

Knowledge Exchange Proposal Form: 

This form is to be sent to your local industry liaison (see below) at least 30 days prior to the start date of the KE engagement.

Knowledge Exchange Report Form:

This form must be sent to the Local Industry Liaison no more than 30 business days following completion of the KE engagement. 

Partner Letter Template:

Following a knowledge exchange (KE) engagement process, we kindly ask the industry or organisation partner to provide a brief letter documenting that the KE project has been carried out, and which briefly describes the value that was obtained via the KE engagement project. 

Partner: A partner is a third party involved in the KE engagement. A partner can be academic or non-academic, but every KE engagement must have at least one non-academic partner. 

Local Industry Liaison: Every iGGi site has a local industry liaison, whose role is to facilitate the KE engagements of iGGi students, providing support and backup.

Group of Industry Liaisons: The local industry liaisons meet regularly with each other to handle special requests, reporting to the main iGGi body and to define KE strategy. 

Lead Industry Liaison: This is a local industry liaison who is leading the overall KE engagement efforts. 

KE Proposal Form: This form provides an overview of the proposed KE engagement and must be submitted to the local industry liaison a minimum of 30 business days before the engagement starts.

Studentship Agreement: A written agreement between Student and Partner setting out the terms of the KE engagement between them, digitally or otherwise signed or authorised by both parties. This can be the KE Proposal Form authorised by both parties, but often, additional contracts and agreements such as employment, NDA, data sharing, etc. are needed.

KE Report Form: This form provides an overview of the results of the KE engagement and must be submitted to the local industry liaison a minimum of 30 business days following completion of the engagement.

Partner letter: This letter provides documentation and evidence that the KE engagement has results in knowledge transfer to the non-academic partner.  

York - Dr James Walker (james.walker@york.ac.uk)

QMUL - Dr Diego Perez Liebana (diego.perez@qmul.ac.uk)