Joint Ventures

The Programme has established joint research programmes with several organisations that have an interest in business and sustainable development:

Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University
Director: Professor Ray Hudson

Aim
The prime aim of the Wolfson Research Institute is to play a key role in meeting two of the University of Durham's strategic goals:

1. International excellence in research.
2. Engagement with policy communities and groups beyond the University, particularly in the north east of England.

Objectives:

1. To develop and reinforce existing disciplinary research strengths in health, medicine and the environment and urban and regional regeneration.
2. To develop cutting edge research on the links between economies, environments (built, natural and social) and health, and the governance and regulatory systems in which they are embedded.
3. To develop interdisciplinary approaches that emphasise the links between research in the natural and social sciences and acknowledge the variety of possible research strategies and forms of evidence.
4. To explore scientific ('expert') knowledges, lay knowledges, and the relationships between them in the context of science and public policy and the ethical and moral issues raised by scientific advances past and present and their potential impacts on economies, environments and health.
5. To develop links beyond the University so that research informs wider debates and practices and, more particularly, to seek to use the results of leading edge research to address problems of development and regeneration in the north east of England.
6. To develop the Institute as a physical presence based in the Wolfson Research Building and as a node in networks of relationships, building upon existing links. First, with researchers based elsewhere on Queen's Campus, as well as with colleagues based on the Durham Campus. Secondly, with policy and other communities in and beyond north east England. Thirdly, with the wider academy beyond Durham.
7. To engender a thriving research culture that incorporates all those involved in the activities of the Institute.

Durham University > Wolfson Research Institute > Mission Statement

Main sections:

• Mission statement
• History
• Research Activities
• News & Events
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Changing course, Wolfson-bound
Ray Hudson

The invitation to contribute to this monthly “Discourse” slot has come at an interesting time for me, personally and professionally. As of 1 August, 2003, I become Director of the Wolfson Research Institute in Durham University (while retaining my position as Professor in the University’s very highly rated Geography Department). The Institute began work in November 2001, and is based in a new purpose-built building on the University’s Queen’s Campus, Stockton. This is home to some 90 staff and 20 research students, and there are another 30 or so people elsewhere in the University involved in the work of the Institute. I approach this new post with a mixture of apprehension and excitement – apprehension at taking on a demanding new post, excitement in terms of what it has to offer and the opportunity to build on its existing successes and take it forward to the next phase of its development.

The prime aim of the Institute is to play a key role in meeting two of the University of Durham ’s strategic goals: international excellence in research; and engagement with policy communities and groups beyond the University, particularly in the north east of England. A number of objectives follow from this. Firstly, to develop and reinforce existing disciplinary research strengths in health, medicine and the environment and urban and regional regeneration. Secondly, to develop cutting edge research on the links between economies, environments (built, natural and social) and health, and the governance and regulatory systems in which they are embedded. Thirdly, to develop interdisciplinary approaches that emphasise the links between research in the natural and social sciences and acknowledge the variety of possible research strategies and forms of evidence. Fourthly, to explore scientific (‘expert’) knowledges, lay knowledges, and the relationships between them in the context of science and public policy and the ethical and moral issues raised by scientific advances past and present and their potential impacts on economies, environments and health. Fifthly, to develop links beyond the University so that research informs wider debates and practices and, more particularly, to seek to use the results of leading edge research to address problems of development and regeneration in the north east of England. Sixthly, to develop the Institute as a physical presence based in the Wolfson Research Building and as a node in networks of relationships, building upon existing links, so that the institute has both a material base and, to a degree, a virtual structure. These networked relationships will be of three types. First, links with researchers based elsewhere on Queen’s Campus, as well as with colleagues based on the Durham Campus. Secondly, links with policy and other communities in and beyond the north east of England. Thirdly, links with the wider academy beyond Durham - not least, it offers possibilities for further collaboration with the Programme for Business and Sustainable Development at Massey, for example around issues of sustainable development and transitions to sustainability.