I had wanted to post about it whilst I was still doing it, but the final weeks were crazy. Also I was normally so thoroughly caught up in the process that I found it difficult step back and reflect. But now I have a little more perspective
I was an sKTP Associate. Which is shorter Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate. It gives companies the opportunity to enter a partnership with a local university and employ a graduate (the associate) to undertake a specific project to share expertise, knowledge, experience. In my case I was working with Fabrick Housing Group and Teesside University. This was over a set period of 40 weeks, taking from February to November 2012.
The overall aim was to provide a method to and undertake an evaluation of the social and community investment that Fabrick undertakes. The organisation has a long history of undertaking non-housing related activities in order to improve the lives of residents and the communities in which they live.
Whilst I was there I saw brilliant projects in action and got to meet fantastic people. Everything from nature parks and financial support and advice, innovative live/work apartments and interactive programmes to teach children citizenship skills, to cookery classes and informal libraries where council run ones closed. Attempting to capture and demonstrate the impact of these activities was the objective. And it was a challenging, but enjoyable task.
I worked hard to understand the organisation as best I could by reviewing policy and strategic documents, and mainly through meeting lots of different people throughout the organisation. This allowed me to review potential methodologies. For a number of reasons we discounted Social Return on Investment (SROI), but there are suggestions that it could be done in the future. The proposed method, that was giving full backing by the organisation, was Social Accounting.
With many constraints including tight timescales and resources, and lack of evidence, I was proud of and pleased with the outcomes which included online surveys with large numbers of stakeholders to obtain quantitative data, and one-to-one interviews to generate qualitative case studies.
Fabrick Housing Group really do a great deal of this work because it feels right. It is a testament to the organisation. I was made to feel very welcome and to see the projects in action and then work to provide a large report with a number of important recommendations means I can only see the upward trajectory.
The sKTP process gave me the opportunity to undertake a significant project under my own steam, with fantastic support from both Fabrick Housing Group and Teesside University. It was a challenge at times, but I would do it again given the opportunity! I've gained a lot of confidence which will hopefully aid me in my long journey of the PhD.
A Teesside University news item on the project: Click here.
Pictured above is Dr Peter Van Der Graaf, myself (Stephanie Mulrine), and Stephen Bray whom were pivotal in the successful completion of this project.
