LPIP Hub Place Partnerships
Networking Conference
2-3 November 2026
The Exchange
Conference Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Kevin Fenning is the Founding Director of Evidence First, a consultancy specialising in economic analysis, strategy, and investment cases for places across the UK. Kevin works extensively with local and central government to support and promote economic development, as well as working on behalf of a range of other organisations and anchor institutions, including: research councils, universities, colleges, business representative organisations, investors and developers, and NHS Trusts. Kevin is a Fellow of the LPIP Hub, and has led and published research for the Hub on AI in Local Government, and Development Corporations. He is currently working on a forthcoming report on what Mayoral Strategic Authorities can do to support economic growth.
Peter Tyler
Emeritus Professor in Urban and Regional Economics in the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at St. Catharine's College
Professor Peter Tyler has been a Project Director for many major research projects for Government, many involving the evaluation of public policy. Besides his work in the United Kingdom for HM Government he has also undertaken research for the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on urban, regional, industrial and evaluation policy. He has been an Expert Advisor to the OECD, European Commission. HM Government and in 2016 Expert Advisor to UN Habitat III.
Invited Speakers
Click on the image of the speaker to read their biography
Dan Ashton is Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton.Current projects include the Cultural Strategies Think Kit in partnership with the Local Government Association and creating a platform to support the use of qualitative data in place-based decision-making. He is a member of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) College of Experts and on the editorial board for the journal Cultural Trends.
Dan Ashton
Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries,
University of Southampton
Chloe Billing is a Research Fellow at City-REDI, University of Birmingham, specialising in the UK space sector. Her research focuses on advanced manufacturing, innovation ecosystems, regional economic development, and industrial policy, with particular interests in commercialisation pathways, innovation pathways and programme evaluation. She has contributed to major funded projects for Innovate UK, the ESRC, the UK Space Agency, and the West Midlands Combined Authority, examining space cluster development, innovation assets, and how universities and industry can work together to develop regional talent. She has published in journals including Industry and Innovation, Urban Studies, Regional Studies, and Economic Geography.
Chloe Billing
Research Fellow, University of Birmingham
Dr Katherine Champion is Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries and Cultural Policy at the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on the relationships between culture, place and public value, with particular interests in cultural and social infrastructure, sustainability, creative labour, and regional development. Katherine is Work Package Lead for Culture and Natural Heritage on the Forth20 programme, exploring how environmental, social and cultural outcomes can be enhanced across the region. Her recent projects include developing approaches to evidencing the social value of public libraries across Scotland and mapping ecologies of care within grassroots creative hubs, examining how cultural spaces support wellbeing, resilience and sustainable local communities.
Katherine Champion
Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries and Cultural Policy,University of Glasgow
Passionate about building community, social justice, equality, diversity and healthy democratic practice, Kersten’s career over four decades has included work in the voluntary and community sector, higher education, central government and more than 30 years in local government. Between 2009 and 2023 she was a local authority Chief Executive, initially in York for 6 years and latterly 8 years for the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Kersten’s current portfolio of work includes : Chair of the Bradford Culture Company, Chair of The Young Foundation, consultancy for the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (ALACE) Trustee of the National Literacy Trust, a Commissioner for the National Preparedness Commission, Co-Director of the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP)and Yorkshire Policy Engagement and Research Network (YPERN) for Yorkshire Universities. Kersten was born and grew up in Edinburgh and has strong family roots in Scotland. But she has lived in Yorkshire for nearly 35 years. She was awarded a CBE in 2019 for her service to the communities and businesses of Bradford.
Kersten England
Charities and Public Sector Leader, University of Bradford
Kevin Fenning is the Founding Director of Evidence First, a consultancy specialising in economic analysis, strategy, and investment cases for places across the UK. Kevin works extensively with local and central government to support and promote economic development, as well as working on behalf of a range of other organisations and anchor institutions, including: research councils, universities, colleges, business representative organisations, investors and developers, and NHS Trusts. Kevin is a Fellow of the LPIP Hub, and has led and published research for the Hub on AI in Local Government, and Development Corporations. He is currently working on a forthcoming report on what Mayoral Strategic Authorities can do to support economic growth.
Kevin Fenning
Founding Director,
Evidence First
Abi joined the University of Manchester in 2009 following a five-year role outside of Higher Education as founding Director of a regional Culture Observatory working within local government, the arts and cultural sector and regional agencies across the North
West of England. She has been researching cultural policy and place for over twenty-five years, beginning with a PhD on urban cultural policy and popular music, followed by postdoctoral research on local music industries, national ‘grand projects’, such as the Millennium Dome, and local cultural strategies. She has published widely in international cultural policy and cultural studies
journals and co-edited volumes with a focus on local cultural policies and place governance; her recent monograph on cultural policy and municipal public parks. Large funded projects include AHRC Connected Communities Understanding Everyday Participation – Articulating Cultural Value (2012-2018) and the AHRC Policy and Evidence Centre for Creative Industries (2018 – 2023). As a UKRI Policy Fellow with the Department for Cultural, Media and Sport (2023-2025) Abi is developing place-based frameworks for sustaining equitable cultural infrastructure. She has recently led the ‘Beyond the Creative City’ with colleagues at the University of Manchester, the University of Toronto and the University of Melbourne leading to an international network on cultural districts and place-based policy.
Abi Gilmore
Professor of Cultural Policy, Institute for Cultural Practices,
University of Manchester
Anne Green joined the University of Birmingham as Professor of Regional Economic Development in June 2017. Her research interests span employment, non-employment, regional and local labour market issues, skills strategies, urban and rural development, migration and commuting, associated policy issues and evaluation. She has published in high profile journals and has written numerous reports for UK Government Departments and agencies. Anne is experienced in disseminating the results of her research to academic, policy and practitioner audiences.
Anne Green
Professor of Regional Economic Development, City-REDI,
University of Birmingham
Dr Sara Hassan is a place-based policy researcher at City-REDI, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, with a background in urban planning. She leads the Culture theme of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub, which brings universities, councils and communities together to test new approaches to local policy. Her theme looks at how arts venues, creative spaces and heritage contribute to inclusive growth.
Sara works with communities rather than on them. She uses participatory and co-design methods so that residents help shape the questions, the plans and the outcomes. In Digbeth, she leads a project on how the area's creative heritage can inform the planning of new public spaces as the neighbourhood changes. She also evaluates cultural and regeneration programmes, helping organisations show the social value of their work. She co-leads place work in a national network linking university research with policymakers.
Sara Hassan
Research Fellow II,
City-REDI, University of Birmingham
Angela is an LPIP Fellow working in the Communities theme focussing on Community Cohesion. She has been working at the interface between communities, universities, business and the public sector for the last 25 years. She is also Co-Chair of Birmingham Citizens UK, (an alliance of Faith, Education, Community and Union partners), Director at the Blesst Centre (a social enterprise focussed on supporting young people’s mental and physical health), Executive Director at Saathi House (a women’s charity in Aston focussed on empowering local women and young people to achieve their full potential and contribute positively to society) and is Strategy and Policy Lead for Community Connexions at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust. Angela was
previously Director of Regional Strategy at Aston University and led on the development and implementation of their Civic University Agreement. She set up significant regional partnerships and secured funding from West Midlands Combined Authority for programmes such as the Decarbonisation Net Zero UKSPF and Business Energy Advice Service for the West Midlands.
She has D. Phil in Molecular Biology from The University of Oxford, an MSc in IP Management (Queen Mary, University of London) and importantly for her current roles has a certificate in Community Organising from Newman University in association with
Citizens UK.
Angela Jeffery
Co-Chair,
Birmingham Citizens UK
Professor Calvin Jones is a specialist in regional development, sustainability, and energy economics. He holds a PhD in the Economics of Tourism and Major Events and is interested in regions, sustainability, and economic and environmental accounting and modelling.
Calvin is founding director of Jones the Numbers Cyf., an Adjunct Professor at Cork University Business School and a Research Associate at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. He also is a board member at Natural Resources Wales. He has written and spoken extensively on sustainable development, regional policy and energy transformations. Possibly too extensively.
Calvin is a failed novelist, rock star and screen writer, but served a successful and rewarding (if short) period in Nelson Mandela's security detail. He is a winner of both the Moss Madden Medal in regional science, and the People's Choice Award at the 1996 Milwaukee International Snow Sculpting Championships, representing Cymru.
Calvin Jones
LPIP Hub Research Associate, City-REDI
Visiting Professor, University College Cork
David is Regional Manager for London and South East England and works in the Place Global and Business Growth Directorate in Innovate UK. He is also the Engagement Lead within UKRI central place team for the London Local Innovation Partnership Programme. He is responsible for strategic stakeholder engagement for innovation and collaboration. Prior to joining Innovate UK, David worked as a government economist at HM Treasury, Home Office, Defra and the Business department. He has an MBA from Henley Management College and MSc Oxford University
David Legg
Regional Manager, Innovate UK, Engagement Lead, UKRI
Katriona Lundberg is Co-Director of the Forth2O, Local Policy Innovation Partnership. With over 20 years of experience in collaboration and partnership delivery in local government, coastal partnerships, and across several roles in Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Katriona specialises in cross-sector collaboration, policy and public sector innovation. She previously delivered River Basin Management Planning and now leads SEPA's Research, Innovation and Collaboration Framework, leading a team to build cross sector collaborative approach. Katriona brings practical insights on public sector delivery policy insights and building delivery momentum through local partnerships.
Katriona Lundberg
Co-Director of the Forth2O, Local Policy Innovation Partnership
Professor Catherine Mangan is the Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of College. She has a background as a policy maker and practitioner in public service and as such as a particular interest in developing research which can deliver change within the public sector. Her research-informed areas of interest include developing the public service workforce, leadership and the integration of health and social care.
Catherine Mangan
Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head, College of Social Sciences
Jamie Ounan is a founding Director of Inner Circle Consulting. He has over 20 years of public service leadership and consulting experience in city planning and development, service design from strategy to delivery, and a track record of building teams that provide innovative and effective solutions to complex challenges in the public sector. Currently Jamie leads the Inner Circle team in their mission to create prosperous places and transformed public services to unlock a better future for all.
Jamie Ounan
Director, Inner Circle Consulting
Alice is a Senior Economic Analyst at City REDI with significant experience in appraisal and evaluation. Alice led the development of several economic impact assessments across a variety of projects, programmes and institutes. Including having completed some of this work whilst on secondment to both Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) as Research and Intelligence Manager and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) as a Senior Data and Policy Analyst. Developing economic impact methodologies, measuring the impact across a variety of outputs, including impact at varying geographical scales and across differing demographic groups. As part of the LPIP Hub work Alice has been leading on the Inclusive and Sustainable Local Economic Performance strand. As part of this she has also been leading on the Business Case element and has been on secondment to MHCLG for the past several months, supporting on improving appraisal guidance and work around economic appraisal capacity and capability within place.
Alice is also an HM Treasury Green Book Better Business Case practitioner, leading on business case development team at City-REDI, working with partners to develop business cases when developing projects and/or programmes. Focusing largely on the development of value for money models, similar to economic impact assessment models. Alice has supported the securing of over £89m in government funding for various projects and programmes for partners. As part of this, earlier in the year, Alice also provided expert advice to HM Treasury for the review of the Green Book.
Alice Pugh
Senior Economic Analyst,
City-REDI, University of Birmingham
Professor Rebecca (Bec) Riley is Co-Director of City-REDI, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement, Director of the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub, and Professor of Enterprise, Engagement, and Impact at the University of Birmingham’s Business School. Bec joined the University of Birmingham nine years ago to set up City-REDI, to build a distinctive local, regional, national and international research platform through the development of a Birmingham approach to understanding and facilitating growth in city regions. This systemic approach in identifying and conceptualising the inter-dependencies within and between regional economies has provided new opportunities for understanding, conceptualising, modelling, evaluating and comparing economic activity and business trends at the city-region level. As the newly announced Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Regional Engagement, Bec will lead on setting the civic and regional vision for the University, while building on the work she has been doing with the University’s Regional Engagement Group. Alongside her new role, Bec remains the Principal Investigator (PI) and Director of the LPIP Hub, addressing nationwide issues through local partnership and place.Bec’s research interests focus on regional economic development, including research to develop policy and regional strategies, monitoring frameworks, economic forecasting, skills and labour market analysis, and strategic business cases and project evaluation. She applies a mixed methods approach in her research, with a strong focus and record of impactful policy-relevant applied research and stakeholder engagement. She is an experienced lead on research projects, with over 200 research projects carried out across academia, policy, and consultancy roles.
Rebecca Riley
Principal Investigator & Director of the LPIP Hub City-REDI,
University of Birmingham
Nina Ruddle leads civic mission and public policy engagement at Wrexham University and is a LPIP Fellow. With 25 years’ experience across universities, Welsh Government, local government and regional partnerships, including leading work on community benefits and the Wales Procurement Policy Statement and delivering significant project and programmes across Wales and the UK focused on economic and social regeneration and tackling inequity. She chairs the Wrexham and Flintshire Public Services Board and founded the North Wales Insight Partnership. Her research explores how the Well-being of Future Generations Act can be put into practice through civic innovation, community voice and stronger connections between evidence and decisions. She was named one of Wales’s 100 Future Generations Changemakers.
Nina Ruddle
Head of Public Policy Engagement, Wrexham University
Lee has over 35 years’ leadership and management experience in universities. Before his retirement in autumn 2025, Lee was Registrar, Secretary and COO at the University of Birmingham. Prior to that he was Registrar and Secretary at Durham University and held senior roles at the University of Warwick. He is now part-time Professor of Practice at the University of Birmingham and LPIP Fellow with City-REDI.
Lee Sanders
Professor of Practice in Leadership, Governance and Higher Education Policy,
University of Birmingham
Head of Regional Engagement, working within EPSRC’s partnership directorate, with a focus on the East Midlands. Aiming to help EPSRC to be an intelligent investor through engagement with relevant stakeholders. Previous experience leading a major/strategic bid development team within a research intensive university.
Joe Shearring
Head of Regional Engagement,
EPSRC
Liam specialises in place-based cultural development that puts communities in charge of their own destinies. He is currently Head of Governance and Operations at United By 2022, the legacy charity of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, which delivers youth programmes, social value consultancy and volunteer management for major events and sports and culture led regeneration across the West Midlands.
From 2022-2025, at the UK National Commission for UNESCO, Liam led the fundraising, research, development, and delivery of the Local to Global strategic investment programme. The programme built a more resilient and adaptive network of UNESCO-designated sites, which cover 13% of the country’s landmass. Liam has overseen the development of new resources in audience development, stakeholder mapping and inclusion; fundraising and financial sustainability; and digital transformation – and increased devolved decision-making through horizon-scanning, open innovation and collaborative futures techniques.
Liam’s previous experience includes establishing the people-centred practice principles for an Arts Council England Creative People and Places project in the Black Country – focused on inspiring more people to choose, create and take part in brilliant art experiences in the places where they live.
He has worked as a consultant for various Arm’s Length Bodies, combined and local authorities, to develop localised cultural policy. As a lead evaluator for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, Liam authored two public reports on region-specific cultural programmes that support global exchange and decentralised soft power and methods to embed inclusivity into mega events. Liam is a trustee at Birmingham’s internationally renowned Ikon gallery.
Liam Smyth
Head of Governance and Operations, United By 2022
David Sweeney has played a leading role in shaping UK research policy for nearly two decades, particularly in research assessment, funding, knowledge exchange and open science. He was the founding Executive Chair of Research England, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and is Professor of Practice in Research Policy at the University of Birmingham.
After graduating in Statistics from the University of Aberdeen, he began his career in agricultural research, working in statistics and mathematical modelling, before moving into university management and leadership at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he served as Information Services Director and subsequently Vice-Principal (Research).
He joined the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2008, leading the development of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), including the introduction of research impact assessment. Subsequently, at Research England, he was responsible for research funding, knowledge exchange and university–business relations. Within UKRI, he championed place-based research and innovation, open science and commercialisation.
David currently chairs the Pandemic Institute Steering Group and the Materials Innovation Factory Advisory Board in Liverpool. He is Deputy Chair of Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research in Wales, and of the Cardiff Capital Region Local Innovation Partnership Board. He is also Treasurer of cOAlition S, the international open access initiative, a Trustee of The Conversation UK and a member of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI).
He has advised governments and organisations internationally on research policy, assessment and scholarly publishing. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2022 and holds honorary doctorates from Aberdeen, Keele and Edge Hill universities. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.
David Sweeney
Former Executive Chair, Research England
Professor Kiran Trehan is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise, Partnerships and Engagement at the University of York. A leading voice in debates on entrepreneurship and enterprise development, she has led major research grants and shaped enterprise and business support policy, and has published widely across journal articles, policy reports, books and book chapters. Her work has been funded by a broad range of bodies, including the Economic and Social Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, government departments, regional and local agencies such as Local Enterprise Partnerships and Chambers of Commerce, and the private sector. A prominent figure on the national stage, Professor Trehan has chaired national boards and presented at leading international conferences and symposia. She works with policymakers, public services and community networks to promote entrepreneurship, enterprise and family business. She has held visiting scholar positions at universities across Europe and beyond, and is internationally recognised for her research, which appears in high-quality peer-reviewed journals. From 2019 to 2022, she served as President of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE), the UK’s foremost body for SME research and policy
Kiran Trehan
Pro- Vice Chancellor for Enterprise, Partnerships and Engagement
Professor of Entrepreneurship,
University of York
Andy Westwood is a Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Birmingham. He is a board member of Skills England and a member of the College of Experts at both the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology (DBIST) and the National School of Government and Public Services. He has previously worked as an expert adviser to a range of organisations including the IMF, OECD, EU and for the Economic Affairs Committee in the House of Lords and as also a special adviser to ministers on science, skills, industrial strategy and regional policy during the 1997-2010 Labour government.
Andy Westwood
Professor of Politics and Public Policy, University of Birmingham
Michael Woods is Professor of Human Geography at Aberystwyth University and Co-Director of the Rural Wales Local Policy Innovation Partnership (Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales), as well as Co-Director of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD). He has 30 years of experience of place-based and policy-focused research in Wales and internationally, especially on rural communities, community governance, local civil society and polarisation, spatial justice, globalization and rural areas, and assemblage approaches to place. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society in 2025.
Michael Woods
Professor of Human Geography, Aberystwyth University
Additional confirmed speakers include:
• Andrew Charlesworth-May, Head of Economic Appraisal, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
• Sophie Duncan, Director, NCCPE
• Nicola Headlam, Researcher
• Fumi Kitigawa, Professor in Regional Economic Development, City-REDI, University of Birmingham
•Si Chun Lam, Head of Research, Intelligence, and Inclusive Growth, West Midlands Combined Authority
• Des McNulty, Advisory Board Chair, University of Glasgow
• Kristel Miller, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Ulster University
• Abigail Taylor, Research Fellow, City-REDI, University of Birmingham
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