Launch of the Inclusive Newcastle Knowledge Centre website 

The Inclusive Newcastle Knowledge Centre website has now launched for colleagues, students, and the public. We hope this website will become an increasingly useful source of research insights, evaluation support, and accessible resources for developing inclusive practices and robust evaluations. 

The Inclusive Newcastle Knowledge Centre (INKC) exists to embed inclusivity for our students in everything we do. It is based on the Core Values of the University and firmly supports the concept of ‘no excellence without equity’. Established in 2019, it takes a collaborative approach to Inclusive Education, generating and building on insights from students, staff and partners. The INKC has four guiding priorities: 

• lead the complex evaluation of our APP actions and their impact, using a Theory of Change approach 
• provide evaluation training to teams of University colleagues to increase evaluation expertise 
• support a team of academic researchers to undertake evaluation and research into social mobility and inclusive education 
• nurture student researchers to gain experience and expertise and to consider an academic career 

The website launch coincides with the development of the new Access and Participation Plan (APP) and hosts regulatory APP documentation; it will also become a valuable repository for data and evaluations relating to APP activities from across the University. Colleagues are encouraged to keep up to date with APP developments through the INKC website and INKC Blog.  

The website will also provide colleagues with key findings and insights from the various projects and evaluations that the INKC team is working on. Current projects include work on sense of belonging for students, narrowing the awarding gap for Black students and the evaluation of contextual admissions.  

The Resources page aims to signpost colleagues and students to useful resources to support educational equity and evaluation methods. There are also details of wider collaboration projects, and strategic links to our work on the Race Equality Charter, University of Sanctuary, and more. 

Engaging students is integral to INKC, and internship opportunities will be posted on the website, alongside events open to all. INKC is already collaborating with NUSU on the formation of a Student Collaborative Group to contribute to APP development, and student blogs on the progress of this group will be posted on the INKC Blog. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about INKC projects and evaluations or how you can contribute to the APP, please contact Professor Alison Shaw (alison.shaw@newcastle.ac.uk).