It’s always great to hear about the career paths that graduates took after they left the University of Brighton. As November celebrated National Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Month and well as 40 successful years of the scheme, we’re focusing on how the roles that our alumni have taken in the scheme have helped them to shape their careers and create new opportunities.
The University of Brighton runs one of the largest KTP programmes in the South East and to date have delivered over 250 programmes with over 150 companies. KTP is a nation-wide government scheme that can provide up to 67% grant funding to enable companies to become more innovative and competitive by working in partnership with a university. Based on the 2013/14 outcomes report, on average a company undertaking a two-year KTP has a projected increase of over £1 million in annual profits before tax and 86% of the partnerships have plans for future collaboration with the university.
University of Brighton graduate Victoria Keen works as Head of Sustainability at The Guinness Partnership, starting after she graduated with Distinction from a Masters in Sustainability of the Built Environment in 2009. She had been involved in setting up a KTP with a previous employer so was familiar with the process, as well as the benefits that KTP can offer to companies. A KTP with Guinness and the University of Brighton was quickly set up and on top of her normal job, Victoria also took on the role of Company Supervisor to the KTP Associate, graduate Adam Masters, in a project which developed and embedded an eco-retrofit capability within the Guinness Partnership.
Victoria said “It was a pleasure to go back to the university that I graduated from in a professional capacity and work with their academics on a strategic project for the Guinness Partnership. We all benefited hugely from the KTP – we look forward to continuing to work with the university on other projects.”
As part of the KTP, the team evaluated the energy performance of the offices and selected six of them for improvements. By retrofitting these offices and implementing behaviour change initiatives the team were able to make savings of approx. £50,000 per year and develop a strategy for the roll out of retrofit across the remaining offices.
Are you a University of Brighton graduate working for a company who could benefit from an injection of knowledge from academics at your former university? To discuss how KTP could help your business develop and grow, please contact Dr Shona Campbell, KTP Manager, at the University of Brighton on 01273 642495 or at s.e.campbell@brighton.ac.uk.