In this episode of "Gerrin' on wi' it," Paul Hayes speaks with Dr Dan Olner from the University of Sheffield about bridging the gap between academia and local government. As a policy fellow embedded within the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), Dan shares his experiences working at the intersection of data science, regional economic policy, and collaborative governance.

Dan discusses his dual role as both university researcher and embedded policy analyst, explaining how he helps answer critical questions about South Yorkshire's economy, growth sectors, and regional strengths. Rather than operating as a traditional academic expert transmitting knowledge from on high, he describes a collaborative model where experts from different backgrounds work together on equal footing.

Dan contrasts his ongoing, open approach with traditional consultant models, emphasising the value of sustained relationships and accessible data. The conversation also examines the sustainability of such embedded roles, the benefits to both academics and policymakers, and the need for collaborative funding from national bodies, regional authorities, and universities to mainstream this type of engagement. Ultimately, Dan makes a compelling case for why these bridging roles matter for evidence-based policymaking and regional development.

This episode was recorded on 17 December 2025. If you would like to get in touch, please contact contact@y-pern.org.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

About the speakers:

Paul Hayes is Senior Policy Engagement Fellow at Leeds University Business School, supporting academic colleagues in developing impacts from their work and in engaging with the policy community and public bodies. He was formerly corporate policy manager at Wakefield Council and policy lead for the Key Cities Group, an association of 27 mid-size UK cities. This role encompassed policy advisory work to local, regional and national politicians; development and authorship of local and regional strategies and plans; engagement with and representation on working groups of UK government and national bodies; and responses to consultations. The role also included scoping, commissioning, and joint development of academic and think tank research and engagement with business and voluntary and community sectors.

Dr Dan Olner is a data analyst and geographer based in the School of Management at Sheffield University and, through the Yorkshire & Humber Policy Engagement Research Network (Y-PERN), is working with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority on all things economic and regional and data. Dan hasn't strayed far from Yorkshire, studying politics at Sheffield University and a PhD at Leeds University. Find out about Dan's work at

In the first episode of our “Work in Progress” series, hosted by Dr Sanjay Popat, Sanjay speaks with NHS doctor, BAFTA award winner, and best-selling author Dr Ranj. Together, they candidly discuss Dr Ranj’s experience of burnout, as well as why the NHS has become such a high-risk environment for burnout, and what urgently needs to change.

This episode was recorded on 27 January 2026. A transcript of the episode is available. If you would like to get in touch regarding the episode or podcast, email research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. Visit the podcast webpage for further information.

About the speakers:

Dr Ranj is a physician, broadcaster, and bestselling author recognised as one of the UK’s leading TV health experts. A co-host of BBC One’s Morning Live and co-creator of the BAFTA-winning Get Well Soon, he is a familiar face across Britain’s flagship television programmes.

Dr Sanjay Popat is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow specialising in occupational stress, well-being and mental health. His work focuses on how these phenomena occur over time and how time might influence whether we adapt to stressors or reach a breaking point.

In this episode of "Gerrin' on wi' it," host Dr Andy Mycock speaks with Professor Joe Cook from the University of Hull about what makes collaboration work in research and community engagement.

Joe leads the Communities in their Places cross-cutting theme for the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP), working with local authorities, voluntary organisations, and residents across Yorkshire and the Humber. She discusses Hull's "flipped university" model that prioritises community needs, the art of listening over ivory tower thinking, and building trust by not overpromising.

Drawing on projects from Local Area Coordination to cost of living crisis research, Joe illustrates how participatory action research bridges gaps between stakeholders with competing pressures - and why the most powerful research reflects lived experiences and delivers tangible outcomes for real people, not just academic publications.

This episode was recorded on 16 December 2025. If you would like to get in touch, please contact contact@y-pern.org.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

Acronyms explained:

1. Y-PERN – Yorkshire and Humber Policy and Engagement Network
2. UPEN – Universities Policy Engagement Network
3. UKRI – UK Research and Innovation
4. ESRC – Economic and Social Research Council
5. YPIP – Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership

Helpful links:

1. https://www.communitycatalysts.co.uk/lacnetwork/local-area-coordination/what-is-local-area-coordination/

About the speakers:

Dr Andy Mycock is a political scientist with extensive experience of academic public policy engagement. As Chief Policy Fellow for the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (www.y-pern.org.uk) he collaborates with a wide range of academic, government and non-government stakeholders across the region and UK and internationally. Andy is also Cross-Programme Lead for

In this episode of "Gerrin’ On Wi’ It", Dr Andy Mycock talks with Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director of Yorkshire Universities, about how collaboration is shaping the future of Yorkshire and the Humber.

Peter reflects on the unique partnership between the region’s 12 universities, their work with local and combined authorities, and the remarkable journey since signing the 2021 Memorandum of Understanding, which laid the groundwork for major initiatives like the Yorkshire and Humber Policy and Engagement Network (Y-PERN) and the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP). Peter identifies that the diverse landscape of Yorkshire is bound together by a strong sense of identity which creates a basis for shared purpose and shared agendas.

Together, they discuss what effective collaboration looks like, why trust and communication matter, and how shared regional identity helps Yorkshire speak with one voice.

Peter also looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities for the sector, including sustaining this work, strengthening connections with communities and policymakers, and ensuring universities continue to play a meaningful civic role in the region.

This episode was recorded on 16 December 2025. If you would like to get in touch, please contact contact@y-pern.org.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

Acronyms explained:

1. Y-PERN – Yorkshire and Humber Policy and Engagement Network
2. UPEN – Universities Policy Engagement Network
3. YU – Yorkshire Universities
4. YPIP – Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership
5. YHC – Yorkshire and Humber Councils
6. MOU – Memorandum of Understanding

Helpful links:

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-the-united-kingdom
2. https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/
3. https://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/our-universities
4. https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/

In this opening episode of "Gerrin' on wi' it," hosts Paul Hayes and Dr Andy Mycock set the stage for exploring collaboration across Yorkshire and the Humber - a region they argue is England's trailblazer for academic-policy engagement.

Paul and Andy discuss the origins of the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network (Y-PERN) and the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership (YPIP), born from a 2021 memorandum of understanding between Yorkshire Universities and Yorkshire & Humber Councils. They reflect on how COVID-19 became a catalyst for collaboration, revealing the power of bringing together universities, local authorities, combined authorities, and communities around shared challenges.

The conversation explores what makes collaboration work: building trust through sustained relationships, understanding different institutional cultures, and creating a "network of networks" that maximises regional capacity. From Early Years education to economic growth, they discuss how partnership working has evolved from coffee conversations to formal compacts and community engagement.

This episode introduces the “Gerrin’ on wit’ it” series as a space to speak to people who are making things happen in the region and driving things forward with collaboration at the forefront.

This episode was recorded on 9 December 2025. If you would like to get in touch, please contact contact@y-pern.org.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. Y-PERN is funded by the UKRI’s Research England Development (RED) Fund; YPIP is funded by the UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council.

Acronyms explained:

1. Y-PERN – Yorkshire and Humber Policy and Engagement Network
2. YPIP – Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership
3. UPEN – Universities Policy Engagement Network
4. YU – Yorkshire Universities
5. YHC – Yorkshire and Humber Councils
6. ESRC – Economic and Social Research Council

Helpful links:

1. https://www.n8research.org.uk/
2. https://whiterose.ac.uk/

Professor Vera Trappmann speaks to senior researcher Dario Azzellini about his research on Colombia’s approach to just transition in this latest episode of the “Just transitions – a global exploration” series. Dario gives an overview of Colombia’s holistic and community-driven approach to just transition – where unions, activities and communities push for a post-extractivist future, despite immense risks and structural challenges.

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2.

Visit the project webpage.

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in November 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

About the speakers:

Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. She studies the transformation of work and its impact on workers with a particular focus on climate change, just transition and the green economy.

Dario Azzellini is a senior researcher in the Department of Sociology at the University Duisburg-Essen. His research interests focus on labour studies, sustainable work and Just Transition, and workers’ self-management.

In this episode of the Research and Innovation Podcast, Rashik Parmar MBE, and Professor Mehmet Dogar explore advances in artificial intelligence, responsible computing, and robotics. They discuss why responsible computing is becoming urgent, the challenges of making digital systems ethical and sustainable, and the ambition to position the UK as a world-leader in this space. Mehmet shares insights from the University of Leeds Robotics Lab, including why robotics lags behind other areas of AI and how researchers are tackling complex tasks like multi-object packing and physical interaction. Together, they look ahead to what responsible, trustworthy computing and more capable robots could mean for society in the coming years.

Both Rashik and Mehmet presented on these topics at the Leeds Digital Festival event - “The future is now: tech driving UK industry” - which was co-hosted by Leeds University Business School and the School of Computer Science.

Mehmet’s research is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/V052659/1]

This episode was recorded on 8 December 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

About the speakers:

Rashik Parmar MBE is a member of Leeds University Business School’s Research International Advisory Board. Previously, Rashik was Group CEO of the British Computer Society (BCS), and the IBM Fellow and Vice President responsible for creating and driving IBM’s European technical strategy. Rashik is a member of the Open University Council and also chairs the Industry Advisory Board for Digit Lab.

Professor Mehmet Dogar is Professor of Robotics & AI at the University of Leeds. His research focuses on autonomous robotic manipulation. Mehmet is an EPSRC Fellow, and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Robotics Research, and an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

Related journal articles by Professor Dogar and colleagues:

• Tracking and Control of Multiple Objects During Nonprehensile Manipulation in Clutter
• Goal-Conditioned Model Simplification for 1-D and 2-D Deformable Object Manipulation
• Sampling-Based Model Predictive Control for Dexterous Manipulation on a Biomimetic Tendon-Driven Hand

In this introductory episode, Professor Helen Hughes and Emma Findlay explain the purpose of the Surgical Care Observatory and why successful surgical innovation is about far more than the tech itself. They discuss system readiness, and how sociotechnical frameworks can help the NHS implement new technologies safely, effectively, and sustainably.

This episode was recorded on 24th November 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

Visit the project webpage.

This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

About the speakers: Dr Helen Hughes is an Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School and Director of the Behaviour Lab. Helen in an interdisciplinary researcher, whose research spans aerospace to healthcare sectors. Helen is currently an Associate Editor at Ergonomics journal, and a Co-Investigator within the NIHR-funded Surgical Health-Tech Research Centre, where she leads the ‘Surgical Observatory’ workstream.

Emma Findlay is a Research Officer at Leeds University Business School, working in the Surgical Care Observatory theme of the HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care. Her research explores the underpinning psychology of complex systems; including medtech implementation, surgical sustainability and multiteam system functioning.

Articles mentioned in this episode and related reading:

• “Organisational psychologists – essential to saving the NHS”, The Psychologist, 31 October 2025, Helen Hughes and Emma Findlay
• “The Principles of Sociotechnical Design”, Human Relations, Albert Cherns, 1976
• “Sociotechnical principles for system design”, Applied Ergonomics, Chris Clegg, 2000
• “Leveraging socio-technical systems to tackle grand challenges: Reflections on human-robot teams, hybrid workplaces, med-tech, and digital transformation”, Ergonomics, Matthew Davis, Helen Hughes, Mark Robinson, Jeffery Scales, Shankar Sankaran, Dikai Liu, Emma Findlay and Emma Gritt, 2025