Professor Joyce Liddle of  Policy&Practice was invited as a keynote speaker at Network: evaluating & researching university participation interventions conference in  London, September  2025.

The move towards increased collaboration and regional organisation for widening participation initiatives announced by the Office for Students in June 2025 opens up a range of opportunities for higher education. This new approach to partnerships could support a shared national purpose by coordinating the work of providers in tackling local and regional challenges to achieve a greater collective impact. The possibility of more productive links with employers and communities, support for collaborative work with younger age groups and enhanced careers provision would all be facilitated. But at times of change it is also vital that we recognise and learn from the success of existing partnerships.

The NERUPI Convention gave people the opportunity to:

• engage with wider perspectives on regional development
• increase understanding of Office for Students intentions and requirements
• consider ways to retain existing partnership activities
• explore strategies for developing new collaborative initiatives

Professor Joyce Liddle from Durham University provided a keynote talk that drew on her many years of experience and engagement as an academic and policy/practitioner in regional development.  Her speech was entitled “Setting widening participation, knowledge exchange and collaborative partnerships for place transformation in a civic and place leadership context for higher educations institutions: The UK Government’s ‘Going for Growth’ regional agenda”

She used the session to set widening participation, knowledge exchange and collaborative partnerships for place transformation in a context of civic and place leadership role for HEIs. In the evolving, highly fragmented devolutionary landscape of regional and local growth, mayoral combined authorities are expected to drive leadership in collaboration with other agencies, including higher education institutions.

Professor Joyce Liddle of Policy&Practice has recently published a new edited volume with Professor John Shutt of Northumbria University.

Cases on Public Sector Entrepreneurship examines the shifting political, economic and socio-technological forces that are altering public entrepreneurship contexts. Addressing the gaps in current methodological knowledge and combining theory and practice, this illuminating set of case studies provides integrated scholarship on business enterprise and public entrepreneurship.

The book presents an international perspective, including detailed case studies from the UK, France, Finland and Nepal. In so doing it acknowledges the difficulties in transferability between jurisdictions and cases, illustrating key elements of public entrepreneurship in different settings by exploring narratives, stories and ethnographic examples to enhance knowledge and policy learning on how public officials seek real word social and economic outcomes and impacts.

“We badly need more creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the public sector, particularly in an era of profound transitions, even though a truly, and fully entrepreneurial state would be unwelcome and dangerous. Part of the value of better research, and of this book, is to help us define and navigate the boundaries.”  Professor Geoff Mulgan

Joyce Liddle and John Shutt (2025) Cases in Public Entrepreneurship, Elgar Cases in Entrepreneurship Series, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

Fieldwork for Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 concluded on 30th September and received 8,680 valid and complete responses. The first report on findings was published on 29th October.

The point of this study is to give an independent and balanced picture built upon what voluntary organisations tell us. And contrary to many ‘alarmist’ reports about sector crises, we’re finding a voluntary sector that is much more capable, confident, well resourced, resilient and impactful than many might expect.

Certainly, some organisations are struggling at the moment (and we’ll be able to show who’s more likely to be at risk and why as the research progresses) but most are getting on well while some are thriving.

The first report is available here: . Relationships, influencing and collaborative working – Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 (October 2025)

The report has been covered in stories in Third Sector  and Civil Society Media.

A series of reports will follow – titles may change a little, but this provides an idea of what they will cover:

People, work, ambition and impact (to be published late first week December 2025)

Income, assets, financial wellbeing and outlook (to be published early January 2026)

Sector dynamics in the context of place (to be published February 2026)

How voluntary organisations contribute to community vitality (to be published March 2026)

There will also be a special report on The voluntary sector in Wales – which will be published in February 2026. Other localised reports are likely to follow.

Two other background reports are also published today. 

The first is a qualitative study of 50 voluntary organisations which ran for 15 years and has been updated in 2025. Going the distance – how third sector organisations work through turbulent times [New Edition October 2025].

The second report explains how the study was done: Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025: technical paper on research methodology and sample structure.

If you’d like more information about the project please click here

Thank you to all 8,680 voluntary organisations which took part in the study this year.

We have received at least 600 from every English Region and over 700 from Wales.  It takes four months and a great deal of support to do the fieldwork for Third Sector Trends, which started on June 2nd and finished on 30th September.

The study has had tremendous help from many local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations (such as CVSs) from around the country who have helped to boost local responses.

And as planned, towards the end of the fieldwork process, many Community Foundations stepped in to ask their current and recent grantees to respond to the survey producing a significant increase in the number of charities and social enterprises taking part in their areas together with support from UK Community Foundations, London Funders and London Plus.

The study has generously been funded by Community Foundations North East, Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales, WCVA and Millfield House Foundation. 

When will we start to see the findings?

In October a new edition of Going the Distance: how Third Sector organisations work through turbulent times. This is a report from a 15 year qualitative study of voluntary organisations in North East England and Cumbria and forms the basis much of the analysis in the survey reports.  Additionally, a Research Methodology report will be published in October for people who’d like to get the detail about sample sizes and how representative the data and findings are.

Now that the survey is closed, the reporting from the survey will begin soon. The first three reports will be at national level starting with Relationships in the Voluntary Sector which should be published by the end of October or first week November.  This will be followed by a report at the end of November/first week December on People in the Voluntary Sector.  In January a third national level report will be published on Sector Finances and Assets. 

In February and March, two of the area reports will be published. The first for North East England will track changes right back to 2010 when the study began.  The next report will be published by WCVA for Wales and will provide comparative data with English regions.  In March a report will be published by Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales on Organisational Vitality in Smaller Charities.

As in previous years, others will follow when commissions are received on area studies or other issues such as the sector’s contribution to issues such as public health and community wellbeing.

If you ‘d like to find out more about the study, or read previous reports you can find everything you’ll need here: Third Sector Trends

Third Sector Trends is a major long-running study of the voluntary sector in England and Wales. It began in 2010 and the survey is repeated every three years.  In 2025,  we have  over 8,600 responses so far.

The survey closed at midnight on Tuesday 30th September. 

The evidence we collect will provide unprecedented opportunities for time-series and spatial analysis on key issues of concern to voluntary organisations, charitable trusts and community foundations, local government, the health service and businesses which contribute financially or with in-kind support to charities and social enterprises.

We rested the survey campaign in August, but are now back and put out a reminder on 1st September to our lists of charities.  Many community foundations across the country are  now sending direct invitations to grantees to help build the samples in their local areas too – including Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Essex, Forever Manchester, Herefordshire, Merseyside & Lancashire, Leeds, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Staffordshire & Shropshire, Suffolk, Tees, Two Ridings, Wales and, of course, Community Foundation North East.

The survey will remain open until midnight on 30th September and we still need you to take part so that we can build a balanced picture for the area within which you work.

Whether you’re big or small – thriving, struggling or just going along as normal – we need to hear from you. It’s quick and easy to do, interesting and really helps to build a picture about how the voluntary sector responds to change and initiates change in society.

So if you’re an amateur sports, dance or gardening club, a village hall, a carers’ group, an arts, music or heritage society, a campaigning trust; or if you deliver social or health services, care for the environment or run a hostel, refuge or food bank – whatever you do, it’s important to us.

The study is big (8,500+ responses so far in 2025) and runs right across England and Wales. But its focus is still very local – looking at how the voluntary sector develops and works in areas like yours – whether the interests you serve are focused in a neighbourhood/village – or span national/international boundaries.

It’s completely confidential, incredibly relevant to the voluntary sector and those who support it and only happens every three years. So please tell us how it’s going and have your say on what you think the future holds.

If you want some more detail before you start,  go to this page Third Sector Trends

At an on-line ceremony held on 14th July 2025, Professor Stephanie Fiorentino of the University of Cambridge, on behalf of the Regional Studies Association Board, presented Professor Joyce Liddle the ‘2025 Distinguished Services to Regional Studies Award’.

This new award recognises those academics who have made an important contribution to the field of regional studies internationally, either through long lasting quiet service or a brief but impactful intervention.

Professor Fiorentino was happy to announce Professor Liddle as one of four annual recipients of the 2025 award and Professor Liddle of Durham University, UK gratefully accepted the honour.

The YouTube video of the ceremony can be found on RSA website HERE.

After another long period of ups and downs and twists and turns in the voluntary sector, Third Sector Trends is back in England and Wales to see how social, political and economic change has affected organisations like yours.

Many of you will have been helping us with this study every three years since 2010. We’re now asking you to take part again. And if you’re a new organisation, we’re just as keen to see what you do, how things are going and what you’re achieving.

Since the beginning of June, we’ve been doing very well, with just over 7,000  responses by the end of July. We now rest the fieldwork through August and restart in September for one more month when everyone is refreshed after the summer.

Whether you’re big or small – thriving, struggling or just going along as normal – we need to hear from you. It’s quick and easy to do, interesting and really helps to build a picture about how the voluntary sector responds to change and initiates change in society.

So if you’re an amateur sports, dance or gardening club, a village hall, a carers’ group, an arts, music or heritage society, a campaigning trust; or if you deliver social or health services, care for the environment or run a hostel, refuge or food bank – whatever you do, it’s important to us.

The study is big (6,000+ responses in 2022) and runs right across England and Wales. But its focus is still very local – looking at how the voluntary sector develops and works in areas like yours – whether the interests you serve are focused in a neighbourhood/village – or span national/international boundaries.

It’s completely confidential, incredibly relevant to the voluntary sector and those who support it and only happens every three years. So please tell us how it’s going and have your say on what you think the future holds.

Cajoling people to take part is one thing, nagging is another. So during the summer holiday period, we’re resting the fieldwork campaign. But we’ll be back again in the first week of September with two last reminders to take part. If in the meantime, you’d still like to take part – we’d be more than happy to hear from you.

If you want some more detail before you start,  go to this page Third Sector Trends

We’ve been busy, here’s our annual report for 2024 together with some of our plans for 2025:  Policy&Practice Annual Report 2024

Learning from collaboration research in the Scottish and English Borderlands is being applied to challenges of post-Brexit partnerships across the English Channel

Policy&Practice academics have been exploring borderland collaborations for the last two years. The work, led by Professor John Mawson of Policy&Practice and Dr David McGuinness (Northumbria University) is focusing on the development and implementation of the ten-year £500 million Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal which straddles the English-Scottish Border.

Thanks to Wolf Blur for photograph, http://wolfblur.de/index.php/zu-meiner-person

Covering an area the size of Wales, this pioneering programme is the largest rural development initiative and partnership in the UK, bringing together local authorities on either side of the border with funding support from the Scottish and UK governments.

The partners have been keen to acknowledge the significant contribution of researchers in initiating the work of the Borderlands Partnership. As policies have been developed and are being put into practice, researchers continue to explore how best to overcome the inevitable managerial, organisational and leadership challenges that must be resolved to take the Growth Deal forward.

The value of this work has been recognised more widely as understanding of the complexities of cross-border collaboration deepens. Consequently, Professor Mawson was recently invited by Kent County Council to participate in a research and consultancy project on sustaining its partnership working arrangements across the English Channel with French, Belgian and Dutch local authorities.

Kent County Council has been undertaking economic social, cultural and environmental projects with its European partners for several decades funded largely by the European Union’s Interreg Programmes. However, the UK’s decision to exit the European Union in 2021, following the Brexit referendum, has resulted in a substantive loss of funding for such endeavours.

Recognising the value of this longstanding European collaboration activity and the associated build-up of shared knowledge, experience and trust – partners were keen to pursue alternative mechanisms and funding to sustain the work. To this end a voluntary Straits Committee Partnership was established in 2020 by local authority partners on either side of the Channel and North Sea. Its priorities are determined by an executive committee involving officer and member collaboration on agreed programmes and projects including a scheme for community and voluntary sectors.

While progress has certainly been made, unforeseen obstacles have interfered with the process such as the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, the introduction of new customs regulations, transformations in the processes underpinning passenger and freight movements amongst other things.

The loss of European Union funding has slowed progress in the implementation of the Straits Committee’s cross-border strategy. However, a change of government in the UK has led to a more positive and stronger focus on removing barriers to economic growth which means that possibilities for new collaborative initiatives are emerging – not least because of Kent’s pivotal strategic location. Furthermore, as the UK government’s Devolution agenda matures, it is anticipated that this may further strengthen Kent’s strategic and economic development capacity and help facilitate new cross-channel developments.

In the Spring of 2024, the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership published a ten year economic framework and action plan which included measures to support its European agenda. Against this background the research and consultancy project undertaken by Professor Mawson and his Birmingham University colleagues is exploring the role and challenges of the Straits Committee in revitalising cross border collaboration.

To date, over 20 interviews have been conducted with European local authority politicians and senior officers together with civil servants in various government agencies to explore these matters further. The research and initial findings were presented by the team at the Regional Studies Association winter conference in November 2024. The paper entitled Cross-Border Collaboration in the Trans Manche: Brexit – and where next? generated considerable interest particularly in the light of current political developments.