SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Northumbria has significant expertise relating to justice, peace and strong, cohesive communities. These not only form the basis of multiple research strengths but are also key components of our degrees and outreach in areas including law and policing. This page outlines specific policies, processes and practices that support SDG16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
Engaging With Local Stakeholders
We have written policies and procedures to identify local stakeholders external to the university and engage with them. Our Stakeholder Identification and Engagement Procedure sets out our approach to the management of stakeholders and our relationship with them. Our approach enables the University to be more effective, efficient and strategic in the way we interact with our stakeholders, developing an organised way of engaging and managing these relationships, which will support stakeholder engagement across the University. This ensures effective development of stakeholder relationships and ensures a proactive approach. The Procedure is published within the Stakeholder Engagement section of our website.
Stakeholder Engagement Mechanisms in Decision Making
Northumbria maintains a number of ongoing collaboration programmes that serve as key mechanisms for engagement in university decision making with local stakeholders. Through these initiatives, the University both shares its expertise and gains valuable insights from local residents, local government and civil society representatives as a mechanism for participating in university decision making. Our University Strategy 2030 commits to playing a leading role in the economic and social transformation of our region. These efforts include a range of strategic activities aimed at strengthening community links and expanding the University’s positive impact on society, as detailed below.
Northumbria actively participates in strategic partnerships that influence regional policy and decision-making. As a key partner in the Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement (CNUA), Northumbria works alongside Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council to address city-wide issues like social mobility, skills development and student-resident relations. Through the programme, Northumbria is working closely with local government advisors, with opportunities for wider stakeholder input to inform and refine our climate change action plan and guide decision-making on our carbon reduction measures.
Our Board of Governors consists of a wide range of people from different organisations/backgrounds across the region and beyond, as a means to challenge and inform the University’s decision-making processes. The first responsibility of the Board is to ‘contribute to the development of and approve the Mission, Vision and University Strategy, its long-term academic and business plans, and through an effective approach to engagement to ensure that these meet the interests of stakeholders’. Governors represent the NHS, education, business, finance, environmental sustainability, law, housing, technology and community representation as well representatives from the student body.
We work in partnership across the region with the North East Combined Authority, local authorities, businesses and third sector partners to drive inclusive economic growth and to address regional inequalities. to ensure that through our role as an anchor institution, employer, educator and through our research, we can have a positive impact on the city of Newcastle.
We have representation at leadership and operational levels on a number of partnerships and city/region groups and boards in order to ensure that the university is involved in local and regional decision making and policy developments. These include
• The NE Combined Authority (NECA) Business and Economy Advisory Board which brings together industry leaders and stakeholders to drive economic growth, investment, and prosperity across the region
• The NECA Home of Real Opportunity Advisory Board which focuses on reducing child poverty, growing skills and increasing local people’s access to opportunity, including public service reform.
• Newcastle City Health and Wellbeing Board
• The NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI)
• Northumberland County Partnership
• Gateshead Strategic Partnership
In addition, the work of the university touches, engages with and responds to our many communities and neighbours in the city and region to inform our decision making and strategy. This includes employer liaison boards which ensure our courses are up to date and relevant, our Business Clinic which allows students to work on live community and business projects, and our multi-award winning Student Law Office which provides pro-bono legal advice to our communities.
We work with many cultural and creative organisations in the city, sporting organisations and voluntary sector. Our research engages and impacts many marginalised and disadvantaged groups and has included groundbreaking work on child holiday hunger, homelessness and veterans. One piece of work sought to understand how refugees and migrants’ experiences could change policy.
We seek to engage with young people through inspiring them with different activities such as science, space and cooking and sport. This latter project was a unique opportunity brokered by Northumbria University for young people to feed in and affect decision making on holiday activities for disadvantaged young people.
We believe in being a good neighbour and work collaboratively with a range of partners to support students to positively contribute to the communities they reside in, recognising the many benefits that our students bring to our city. Northumbria hosts several forums that provide a direct line for community input into our decision making, including the student-led "Students as Partners" forum, which collaborates with Newcastle City Council and other educational institutions to voice student concerns regarding public services, housing and mental health concerns. The aim is that this group will ensure students are recognised and valued as members of the communities they live in and will celebrate the work students do, whether through volunteering in their local area, supporting residents or being responsible neighbours.
Policy And Lawmakers Outreach and Education
We lead a broad programme of outreach, education and capacity-building that directly engages policy and law-makers at local, national and international levels.
Northumbria’s Public Policy and Management (PPM) Research Group is the UK’s largest community of public policy and management scholars focused on public services, including education, health and social care, policing, fire and rescue and housing. The Group connects academics with those shaping policy and legislation, providing the knowledge, skills and evidence needed to meet complex, long-term challenges in public service delivery. Through education and outreach activities, the Group work closely with policy professionals to translate research into practice. Members of the Group hold influential positions in government forums, learned societies, and research networks, and regularly deliver training, policy education, and developmental workshops for local and regional government officials.
The Group’s outreach programme extends beyond the university, bringing together policymakers, academics and the public in events, capacity-building seminars and invited talks. The Group’s teaching and executive education portfolio combines cutting-edge ideas in public service reform with innovative, problem-led learning that bridges the academic–policy divide. The Group also leads and collaborates on research projects funded by UK research councils, civic bodies and governments, ensuring that our educational impact is grounded in real-world policy contexts.
We also support policy and law-makers through events focused on SDG16, including upskilling workshops addressing the legal and forensic aspects of government programmes. Examples include Professor Marion Oswald working with law enforcement agencies to investigate the future use of probabilistic AI in law enforcement. The project is developing a framework to understand the implications of uncertainty and to build confidence in future Probabilistic AI in law enforcement, with the interests of justice and responsibility at its heart. AI based technologies can deliver many benefits for police, courts and law enforcement bodies, helping to tackle digital data overload, identify previously unknown risks, and increase operational efficiencies.
Our academics informed UK policymakers on the use of digital forensics and digital evidence across the criminal justice system. The researchers worked with the Home Office as part of expert contributions to a Government project looking at the impact of forensic science in UK law. The research team presented their findings to the Home Office-led Forensic Science Reform Programme Board.
Globally, our academics have acted as expert academic advisors to international policy and law makers, and organisations including the Sabin Centre Peer Review Network on Climate Change Litigation (National Rapporteur on India's Climate Change Litigation), and on other thematic policy issues including access to environmental justice, climate change, biodiversity, land rights, SDGs and sustainability with a focus on India.
Participation in Government Research
As a research focused institution, Northumbria undertakes policy-focused research in collaboration with a wide range of Government Departments.
We collaborate closely with various government departments through our Centre for Responsible AI, a leading hub for policy-focused research on the ethical and inclusive use of artificial intelligence. The Centre brings together academics, policymakers and industry to guide responsible AI deployment in areas such as law enforcement, public sector governance, and digital education. Working with public sector bodies, including the Police, the Centre provides advice on AI policy and governance, supporting the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan and regional commitments to responsible AI use. Current projects include PROBabLE Futures, examining probabilistic AI in law enforcement and Generative AI: Building Young Refugees’ Skills and Capacities, exploring AI’s role in education for displaced communities. Via this partnerships, Northumbria is contributing directly to shaping national and regional AI policy, ensuring technology is developed and applied in ways that are ethical, transparent and socially beneficial.
Northumbria has been working with UK Government to help shape the future reform of the National Planning Policy Framework. Professor Scott, who is based in our Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, is working closely with UK Government to find new ways to improve policy and decision-making across built and natural environments. He has played a key role in national conversations on land use in recent years. He was appointed as the sole special adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee inquiry on how we respond to increasing demands on land in England.
Northumbria's expertise in space law research has also to shaped the UK Government Policy for managing radio communications used by the space sector. This strategy informs how satellites use the radio frequency spectrum and how Ofcom manage and regulate the spectrum for efficiency. At
At Northumbria, we research and teach on space, cyber and telecommunications governance. We research the use of existing laws and policies and give recommendations for policy reform. The new Ofcom Space Spectrum Strategy is important because it creates UK strategy on space services use of radio communications to stay up to date with technology and the needs of society. Ofcom sought advice from a range of experts, including space law researchers and academics from Northumbria Law School. As a result, a number of Northumbria’s policy recommendations have now been adopted within the strategy.
Neutral Platform and ‘Safe’ Space
We provide a neutral platform and a safe space for stakeholders to come together to frankly discuss challenges. Our External Speakers and Events Policy commits the University campus to being a safe space for freedom of speech. Section 2.3 (pg2) provides a 'safe' space by ensuring 'All authorised meetings and activities should proceed without: disruption or denial of access or exit for speakers or audience being impeded: the safety of those attending or in the vicinity of it being endangered; intimidation and breach of the peace.' Our Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech Policy summarises key ways we promote safe spaces for dialogue, in which academic freedom and freedom of speech are secured within the University. Our approach allows us to bring together opposing political groups to discuss challenges and to identify a means forward. The University affirms that academic staff have academic freedom within the law as enshrined in the Main Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment for academic staff. These principles are also included in the University’s Staff Code of Conduct. Academic Staff are encouraged to test received wisdom in both teaching and research.
In support of the Policy, Northumbria experts regularly host and participate in roundtable discussions with different political stakeholders, including politicians, civil servants and officials. For example, Northumbria’s Dr Elliott Johnson, Vice Chancellor’s Fellow in Public Policy, joined a roundtable discussion at the Department for Work and Pensions to discuss Government plans to support more disabled people into work, including through reforms to the health and disability benefits system, with the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms.
