A new partnership of universities, councils, businesses, and charities across Yorkshire and the Humber is giving low-income and isolated communities a direct say in regional policy decisions. This matters because people in these communities are often excluded from the research and planning that shapes their lives—decisions about jobs, housing, transport, and green energy are made without their input. The project fills a gap in how regional policy is made: it treats community members as equal partners, not just subjects of study. If successful, the partnership will create lasting infrastructure for inclusive decision-making. A £1 million Collaboration Fund will support local experiments in co-design, while a new Office for Data Analytics will help ensure that community-generated data is treated as credible evidence. A Community Engagement Panel will give marginalised groups a permanent seat at the table. The aim is to find local solutions that can be scaled up across the region—for example, in how to grow the economy fairly or how to live sustainably—and to embed those solutions into how Yorkshire and the Humber is governed.
View original technical description
YPIP is a collaboration of University, public, private and third sector bodies in Yorkshire and the Humber. A key aim of YPIP is to incorporate and empower low-income, marginalised and/or spatially isolated communities in regional research and decision-making. YPIP will undertake a region-wide, three-year programme of inclusive, place-based, systems-based, solutions-focused activities. The programme will generate insights and solutions under the cross-cutting theme of communities in their places, delivered through three work packages: (i) data and informatics, (ii) inclusive growth, and (iii) living sustainably in a greener economy. YPIP is facilitated by the unique existing Yorkshire and Humber academic policy engagement infrastructure (detailed in the geographical coverage section) comprising Yorkshire and Humber Councils [YHC], which brings together political leaders and chief executives of all local and combined authorities in the region, and Yorkshire Universities [YU], which brings together Vice Chancellors of all 12 Universities in the region. In a 2021 Memorandum of Understanding YHC and YU agreed to work together on sustainable and inclusive growth, which was operationalised in 2022 by establishing the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN.) In its initial (6 months) 'phase-1' YPIP built on this infrastructure, in two important ways: firstly, strengthening the relations of YHC, YU and Y-PERN with one another; and secondly, partnering with the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, (YHCC) and the Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Consortium (YHARC). These respectively bring together climate and health stakeholders and communities, for integrated regional-wide activity (for example YHCC's Regional Climate Action Plan embodies 50 cross-sector actions that have wide political support.) Thus, YPIP stands on uniquely strong foundations of a multi-sectoral partnership infrastructure. YPIP will augment this infrastructure by developing additional regional structures and processes dedicated to empowering communities across the region, particularly low-income, marginalised and/or spatially isolated communities. YPIP will establish at regional scale: a Community Engagement Panel, a £1M Collaboration Fund and Panel, and an Office for Data Analytics, all supported by an accessible digital presence, the Yorkshire Engagement Portal. Facilitated by this infrastructure, YPIP will nurture collaborative activities and experimentation on novel forms of co-design and co-production addressing our chosen themes, evaluating 'what works' locally and what can be scaled up to regional policy innovations. YPIP's vision, treats community, public, and business sectors as equal partners in co-designing policy innovations, enhancing long-term regional capacity, and mobilising communities' collaborative potential. YPIP will particularly focus on policy innovations which: (i) assure the quality and support the legitimacy of community-generated data; (ii) improve access of local policy and decision-makers to academic knowledge and expertise in our chosen themes; (iii) demonstrate scalability and replicability of local solutions.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know