N8
The N8 Research Partnership is a collaboration of the eight most research intensive Universities in the North of England: Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York.
N8 have 4 data science intensive areas of research - aligned with LIDA’s research community (Societies, Health and Environment) and methodological programme themes - which LIDA will be actively supporting the Universities data scientists to collaborate with other universities, industry and society on for societal benefit:
- Child of the North
- Computationally intensive research
- Net Zero North
- Policing Research Partnership
Case Study: Child of the North – connecting academics with policymakers
LIDA have supported University of Leeds researchers and the N8 consortium in their Child of the North (CotN) 2024 campaign with the Centre for Young Lives. The campaign is implementing the recommendations from the CotN All Party Parliamentary Group (Mon-Williams, M., Wood, M. L., et al. (2023).
The APPG recommendations included the strengthening of connections between academics and government to support evidence-based decision making.
The CotN 2024 campaign seeks to place children's wellbeing at the forefront of UK policymaking. It addresses critical regional disparities where inequalities magnify the health, education and social care problems afflicting the UK.
The campaign has generated significant media attention, emphasising the urgency of these issues and the need for government action.
The campaign is based around 12 reports. The first six reports encouraged the political parties to prioritise children - with the Labour manifesto reflecting the recommendations. The next six reports seek to support the new government enact evidence-based policies that can build a better future for all children in the UK.
The goal is to mobilise public and political support to ensure that children’s needs are central to government decision-making, ultimately improving the life chances of children from all backgrounds and addressing long-standing regional inequalities.
Case Study: Computationally intensive research – connecting data for connected public services
LIDA have helped connect CotN and the Computationally Intensive Research group to explore how Universities can deliver data insights to organisations planning, running, and commissioning children’s services.
These efforts reflect the APPG recommendation to use linked datasets to enable connected policymaking across Whitehall.
Children need health practitioners, care workers, teachers, and other professionals to be connected – especially in disadvantaged places. We need to understand the intersections and interactions between different services (health, education, social care, police) to improve population health. Public service providers need to share information and coordinate their work.
LIDA hosted an Alan Turing Institute AI UK Event on March 12th 2024 that brought stakeholders together to consider how connecting routinely collected data could help improve public service delivery.
LIDA are now supporting the creation of the Yorkshire and Humber Secure Data Environment that will provide data insights to regional and national policymakers and connect the academic firepower within the N8+ to local and central government.
Another 2024 event will bring the N8’s child health and data experts together to identify projects that can improve lives through data linkage and discuss how the University’s secure data environment - LASER – can be utilised to support national research involving public data.