This event will take place at City Campus, Sheffield Hallam University. Lunch will be available 1-1.45pm, followed immediately by the roundtable from 1.45-3.30pm.

The British Academy has instituted a new series of roundtables on universities as social and cultural infrastructure. This series expands on an initial roundtable looking at this theme that was held in October 2023. A summary note of this event, which provides an indication of the rationale and thinking behind the expanded series, is available here. The roundtable series forms part of the Academy's broader Public Policy work theme focused on social and cultural infrastructure. The roundtables are being held in conjunction with the National Civic Impact Accelerator based at Sheffield Hallam University.

The principal question the series aims to explore is: 

• How can universities as institutions, both individually and collectively, create, support and enhance social and cultural infrastructure to improve and sustain their local communities and places?  

This in-person roundtable hosted at Sheffield Hallam University is the second in the series, and will explore this question in relation to the topic of connecting different university constituencies. The roundtable will consider how different university constituencies, such as students, academics, higher education administrators and the non-student local population, are conceptualised in relation to social and cultural infrastructure - considering, for example, whether students are seen as members of the local community or as temporary residents. It will also explore how different constituencies engage and contribute to local communities and local social and cultural infrastructure, and the role of universities as institutions that can link different constituencies. 

The roundtable will bring together a wide range of participants, from academia, higher education administration, and policymaking. It will be hosted by the National Civic Impact Accelerator based at Sheffield Hallam University. 

Please note that signing up for this roundtable does not automatically mean you have signed-up for the other roundtables in the series, on linking social and cultural infrastructure and R+D and innovation and partnerships, incentives and funding respectively. Please see the relevant TicketTailor pages here and here to sign-up for those roundtables.