North West Research Symposium at Lancaster University – helping to bridge the gap

The middle of June 2019 saw the return of the APM North West Research Symposium - an event jointly supported by APM’s Research programme and the North West Branch - hosted at Lancaster University Management School by Dr Christine Unterhitzenberger and Professor Darren Dalcher.

The symposium attracted around 40 delegates consisting of a mix of academics, students and project practitioners and led to fruitful discussions around how we can improve the interactions between industry and universities. A joint industry-academia research project was presented from the two different perspectives and each highlighted the mutual and individual benefits of such a collaboration.

An interview with a practitioner showcased that there is often not enough knowledge at the industry level on what the options for interactions are and that universities need to do more to communicate these. The creation of knowledge was discussed on the basis of the example of the recent 7th edition of the APM Body of Knowledge and a panel discussion concluded the event. The symposium serves as a platform to discuss issues around industry-academia collaborations and it was emphasised that this platform is invaluable, but that there is still a long way to go to actually improve the situation. We are looking forward to future symposia and research events both in the north west and beyond to get closer to try to help bridge the theory and practice gap.

Presentations from the evening can be obtained via the Lancaster University Box

If you would like to know more about the North West Research Symposium series or research events generally please contact APM Research Manager Daniel Nicholls