Our regional and national relevance spans many different sectors, with a heritage in public service and civic engagement and an expanding investment in sciences, engineering, and creative arts.

Our education, research, and engagement are inspired by our mission and values, seeking out opportunities to change lives for the better and make a positive difference in the world.

The significance of our work is changing lives for the better: helping those with dementia or long-term health conditions to live well, supporting vulnerable people in the criminal justice system in challenging situations, safeguarding people from the devastating consequences of exploitation or oppression, and empowering people to fulfil their potential.

Here are some examples of how our research, education, and engagement are touching lives and communities. We have:

• Shown that arts-based interventions improve health outcomes and life experiences for those with respiratory, neurological and mental health conditions, supporting more than 30,000 patients across the UK, and leading to their recommended use in national clinical guidelines.

• Improved delivery of prison mental health services, reducing both repeat offending and the call on NHS acute mental health care.

• Demonstrated that the use of Justice Support Dogs to support the victims of crime enhances the quality of evidence and leads to more secure convictions, leading to their use being commissioned throughout criminal justice systems in the UK, Canada and all 52 US states.

• Led to the development of the first UK national physical activity recommendations and clinical guidance for pregnant and postpartum women, and developed supporting standards and training for health professionals.

• Supported national teacher education, with all 4700 Church of England schools in England and Wales inspected against a curriculum framework underpinned by our National Institute for Christian Education Research (NICER).

• Developed a new assessment framework for registered firearms dealers and gun owners which has been adopted by all 43 police forces across England, safeguarding communities and leading to the closure of multiple criminal enterprises.

• Changed approaches to delivering sport and physical activity for the least active, increasing physical activity levels among 1.1million young people, and supporting over half a million young people to newly achieve activity levels exceeding national guidelines.

• Supported and enhanced professional status for carers of babies aged 0-2 years, and underpinned new specialist training focusing on engagement, non-verbal communication and interaction that has improved wellbeing and developmental outcomes for babies.

• Unearthed silenced voices of the Spanish Civil War, supporting communities in 68 towns and villages to challenge state-sponsored narratives and to re-capture memories of the 144,000 ‘disappeared’ victims of oppression.

• Supported investment regulation in Africa, developing a new arbitration code for treaty negotiation and, in Uganda, informing legislation to combat organ trafficking.

• Developed new eligibility protocols that facilitated the inclusion of athletes with Intellectual Disabilities in the Paralympic Games and other elite global sporting competitions.

• Improved education outcomes for Palestinian children by working with the World Bank to enhance teaching quality in Palestine.