Inclusive Newcastle Knowledge Centre

Who we are

Inclusive Newcastle was established to embed inclusivity and equity for our students in everything we do.

Established in 2019, it supports staff and students together to learn more about our students' experiences and how we can mitigate barriers to equity in their achievements at Newcastle University - in short, we support a collaborative approach to Inclusive Education. The work of Inclusive Newcastle is helping us to deliver the requirements of the Newcastle University Access and Participation Plan (APP).

The Inclusive Newcastle approach is based on a broad range of principles. These include:

an inclusive educational experience is good for all learners
the way we teach is as important as what we teach
evaluating our work is a rich and beneficial experience and essential to knowing how to make improvements
changes to what we do should always be based on evidence

A group of three students sit together on a bench outside, laughing. One student is a black male, one student is a white male, and one student is an Asian female. There is a female sitting in the background facing away from the camera.

Making change happen

It is our Core Values rather than the regulatory requirements of the Office for Students which truly drive this work. However, in working towards the APP targets which we are committed to delivering, we soon realised that the scope of Inclusive Newcastle would need to be broader than the provisions of the APP itself, and that we must undertake continuous evaluation as part of our commitment to evidence-based practice.

We therefore established the Inclusive Newcastle Knowledge Centre (INKC) to show that commitment. The INKC has four guiding priorities:

lead the complex evaluation of our APP actions and their impact, using a Theory of Change approach
provide evaluation training to teams of University colleagues to increase evaluation expertise
support a team of academic researchers to undertake evaluation practice research into social mobility and inclusive education
nurture student researchers to gain experience and expertise and to consider an academic career

Meet the Team

Find out more about who we are, the work we do, and who to contact.

Projects & Evaluations

Our research and evaluation work includes focus on awarding gaps, sense of belonging, and contextual admissions, amongst other key areas.

Our diverse student community

The Inclusive Newcastle Knowledge Centre supports the University's approach to recruiting students from underrepresented groups. We do this by facilitating a greater understanding of the barriers facing some potential applicants and helping to evaluate the effectiveness of our educational interventions which are designed to help raise attainment and support decision-making.

Once students have registered at the University, we continue to work with our central University Student Services teams and Academic Units to provide insights and evidence into what kind of support students say they need

This helps narrow gaps in retention, attainment and progression to successful careers. It is also intended to enrich the student experience and help students thrive as learners.