The Ignite programme, designed and delivered by the university’s Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP), will be funded for three years through the IAA project. Since 2003, CUPP has nurtured and expanded over 200 community-university partnerships and received multiple awards including a Times Higher Education award, the MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship, and the University Association for Lifelong Learning Award; an upcoming, ambitious Public and Community Engagement Strategic Plan will outline how the university will build on this success.
One example of an impactful CUPP initiative put inclusive arts research into action through a project working with local learning-disabled artists at the Rocket Artists’ Studios. This then provided a model that has been adapted for other sites and communities across the world – from elsewhere in the UK to seven countries in east and south-east Asia.
Professor Stephen Maddison, Dean of School of Humanities and Social Science at the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯, said: “This award is a timely affirmation of the fantastic work undertaken by researchers from the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯ with our valued community partners. We are committed to research that changes lives and which impacts on the serious challenges we face, locally and globally.
“The UKRI’s award will help us bring about a step change in our world-leading arts and humanities research, helping us build even stronger links with communities, companies and third sector organisations. We are passionate about the role that the arts and humanities can play in transforming lives in Brighton & Hove and beyond.”