In conjunction with Newcastle University Policy Academy and Northumbria University Community of Policy Practice, INE is proud to be launching INE Associates: a new programme designed to support, develop and champion knowledge exchange across the academic-policy ecosystem.

As an INE Associate, you and your career will benefit from stronger, longer-lasting relationships across the North East research-policy ecosystem. We will introduce you to like-minded researchers and policymakers who share your commitment to using research to inform and shape policy. We will support you in building your skills, resources and expertise to ensure that your research can have a real-world policy impact.

INE offers our Associates:  

• access to development opportunities, training and events 
• one-to-one ‘surgery’ meetings with INE colleagues, allowing for in-depth discussion of your work and its potential policy applications 
• access to INE’s growing pipeline of incoming policy challenges, with opportunities to join up with existing research and work on INE projects 
• peer-to-peer networking with colleagues working in policy engagement / knowledge translation 
• access to funding bids to connect with local policy partners and their needs 
• increased visibility of your work amongst local policy partners and the opportunity to link to live policy challenges with a clear route to impact. 

In return, we ask that INE Associates: 

• attend an initial induction and networking event 
• keep INE up to date with their contact details, expertise and research endeavours 
• promote the work and aims of INE among colleagues and connections 
• follow INE guidelines and approaches when producing INE outputs that focus on actionable insights for North East policymakers 
• sign up to an INE Associates Charter outlining the above. 

If you are a Newcastle University or Northumbria University colleague and would like to join the INE Associates programme, please complete the short application form available below.  

Your application should outline your work and its relevance to research-policy engagement, alongside a description of what you could contribute as an INE Associate. Applications will be assessed on the focus of your work and its scope for local/regional policy engagement (either current or potential). Even if you’re in the early stages of your career, or aren’t sure whether your work is directly relevant to the activities and needs of different policy makers in the North East, we’d still love to hear from you and see how we can work to support you.