Catalyst Group Homepage

updated on 03 Apr 2025

5 minutes

On this page, we will host Engaged Futures updates, reports, session recordings, resources, and opportunities.

Please do not share the URL for this page with anyone who is not already a Catalyst. You could also save it in favourites bar on your browser so you can find it easily.

on this page

Next Catalyst Event: Research and Researchers in 2045
Latest Conversation: The Role of the Intermediary in 2045
Engaged Futures Themes
How to get involved
Growing the Catalyst Group
Q&A
Access the Catalyst Group Welcome page information

Next Catalyst Event: Research and Researchers in 2045

Online; Wednesday 09 April 2025 from 2-5pm.

Now that we have announced our themes for consultation, we are hosting the second of five conversations on Wednesday 09 April 2025. This will be centred around Research and Researchers in 2045.

What things determine the shape of research and a researcher's ability to collaborate, engage or involve others? What are the opportunities and barriers for opening research up? How might we intelligently overcome the frustration of siloed working?

If you feel that this theme is relevant to you and your experiences, join the conversation by registering using the link below. Registration closes at 10am on Wednesday 09 April 2025.

Latest Conversation: The Role of the Intermediary in 2045

We held this conversation on Tuesday 25 March 2025. We invite Catalysts who were unable to make the live event to continue to input into this conversation.

Please watch the video above and use these two Padlets to share your ideas about the future of the skill sets and people who play the intermediary or broker between people outside of and within a University.

Padlet 1: What is not working and what is your vision for the future of the intermediary role and skill set?

Padlet 2: What examples do you know of where there is a push for change or an example of what we would like to see in the future?

Recording of Engaged Futures Session on The Role of the Intermediary in 2045

Engaged Futures Themes

Here are some of the high-level themes that emerged from Phase 1 of our Engaged Futures consultation work. You can expand each theme heading below for a few examples of thoughts that came up in our conversations.

What does society need and want from Universities in 2045?

Could there be a shift in emphasis from research and learning to problem-solving (poverty, climate change, AI ethics)? How might teaching, skill building, and research deliver on the needs of society? What could the role of the university be in a diversified knowledge landscape? What can the university offer- connector, validator, curator?

Research that works for us all in 2045

Who can be a researcher in 2045? What kinds of research or research programmes are valued? Who sets the research agenda and how?

Serving the needs of students in 2045

Who can access a university education in 2045? When in one’s life can people access a university education? Supporting a diverse student body through approaches to teaching and learning. Creating an accessible ‘campus’.

The place of our universities in an AI world

Harnessing AI in ethical ways. Supporting others in an AI world. The place of AI in research, teaching, and learning.

How might we want to learn…and teach in 2045?

Where does learning/education take place? What subjects and skill sets will be taught and valued? What approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment are offered? How do courses fit around people’s competing demands?

An inclusive University: who and how?

Addressing barriers to inclusion, recognising historical exclusions, recognising skills and experience in a way that enables intersectoral professional pathways, creating a healthy and supportive working environment. Recognising different forms of knowledge.

Fostering collaboration and connection between universities and the world outside

Encouraging flows of ideas, questions and resource between the University and its geographic footprint. Allowing time and space to reflect and address power differentials, ethical practice, and care. Ensuring partners are treated well including payments, contracts, ownership of intellectual property, ethical codes etc. Mechanisms could support collaboration? e.g. shared research hubs, pooling resources and expertise instead of competing for funding.

Resourcing our higher education institutions in 2045

What funding models and mechanisms could fund Universities in the future? What is needed to ensure Universities and knowledge remains independent and critical? How might research funding support new modes of knowledge generation? How can we foster intra-institutional collaboration over competition?

Confronting a colonial past

Decolonising the curriculum. Recognising silenced voices, repatriating material and knowledge. Making issues of power and ethics visible in all areas of a university's work.

How to get involved

We invite you to get involved in our Engaged Futures Consultation Phase. You might like to attend an NCCPE-led, online consultation event (listed below), or you might want to host your own consultative conversation with people and groups that you connect with. You could do both!

Lead a Conversation

We invite any Catalyst to host their own conversations with individuals and communities outside of the Catalyst Group, using the 3Horizons process as a guideline (we will provide support materials). You may wish to choose to focus on one of the themes above, or delve further into one of the themes, on which the NCCPE is leading discussions.

We are offering the chance to apply for a limited number of bursaries, to facilitate these conversations. We request that anyone hosting a conversation, notify us of your activity as soon as you can, so we can identify gaps in our consultation and report back on your .

If you would like to host a consultation activity amongst your networks, you can find more information about the themes and a bursary opportunity here “Catalyst Led Conversations”.

Join a Conversation

The NCCPE will be leading a selection of its own conversations on some of the themes that have emerged. You can choose to join the conversation as per the dates and times listed below. Please click on each Workshop title to register your attendance.

Research and Researchers in 2045
Wednesday 09 April 2025
14:00 - 17:00
The Inclusive University
Wednesday 07 May 2025
14:00 - 17:00
Resourcing the University in 2045
Thursday 12 June 2025
14:00 - 17:00
Wrap-Up and Review
Wednesday 18 June 2025
10:00 - 13:00

You are not obliged to attend all of these events, please only register for those what you are able to attend and that feel relevant to you.

Growing the Catalyst Group

We will be recruiting Catalysts throughout this project.

We would like to build a diverse movement of individual, representative of the variety of professions and communities that work with and alongside HE. This might be in publishing, community activism, local government, educational, or research organisation.

As you look through the themes above, it may become apparent that we need to bring other voices into the conversation. We encourage you to identify who these voices might be and how we might meaningfully include them (perhaps as catalysts or in a consultation event).

Share with your networks

Q&A

The briefing webinar included the opportunity to ask questions. We collected and answered these on the Engaged Futures Catalyst Q&A board. You can continue to post questions here. We will aim to answer them within 7 days.

Post your questions on our Q&A padlet

Access the Catalyst Group Welcome page information

The Catalyst Group Welcome page hosts all the information Catalysts need to know to be part of the project. You can find the following information there:

What is your role as a Catalyst?
A video and slide deck from the Catalyst Briefing Webinar which tells you about your role in the project
A short video about the 3 Horizons framework
The Engaged Futures Project timeline
A description of the Four Phases of the project
How to bring others into the Catalyst Group

Welcome to the Catalyst Group

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