Seventh Employers’ Forum: Knowledge Exchange

The Employers’ Forum programme continued with the seventh event being hosted by National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on 14 November 2019. The subject of the forum was Knowledge exchange and was attending by 54 delegates with a mixture of professional backgrounds from industry, commerce and education. The day gave the delegates the opportunity to listen to and discuss the practise and pitfalls of knowledge exchange.

Presentations

The morning and first part of the afternoon sessions consisted of a series of talks:

Perspectives on Knowledge Exchange from the UK National Cyber Security Centre – Karen Danesi, National Cyber Security Centre
Study groups with industry: are they useful, or just fun? – Dr Martine Barons, University of Warwick
n factors for successful KE in mathematics – Dr Heather Tewkesbury, Smith Institute
Knowledge Exchange for the Mathematical Sciences and How to Do It – Jane Leeks, Newton Gateway to Mathematics
Knowledge Exchange for the Mathematical Sciences: A User Perspective – Kevin Wagstaff, DSTL
IMA Activities- David Youdan, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
How I Became a Mathematics KE Professional – Joanna Jordan, Freelance Mathematical Knowledge Exchange Consultant
Mathematical science and the industrial strategy – Matt Butchers, Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network / EPSRC

Breakout sessions

In the second part of the afternoon the delegates broke into smaller groups, of about 8/9, to discuss the following 3 questions:

Can you think of examples of where good knowledge exchange has made a significant difference to you / your organisation / your sector?
For your company / organisation / sector, what are the challenges to effective mathematical knowledge exchange?
What lessons can you take from today, and what might you be able to try in your organisation to help realise the power of mathematics and mathematicians?

The last part of this session brought everyone back together with each group giving a brief summary of points raised and examples/suggestions given within their discussions.