Engage Summit 2026

We are delighted to invite you to join us at this year’s Engage Summit - a gathering of people who care deeply about the future of universities and their connection to society. This is more than a conference; it’s a chance to come together as a community of practice, united by a shared commitment to change.

Building on a Year of Big Conversations

Over the past 12 months, through our Engaged Futures programme, we’ve been asking big questions: What kind of university sector do we want for the future? How can we create a vision - a North Star - that guides us towards a sustainable, inclusive future? More than 400 participants have joined us in dialogue, exploring what’s working well and where the system is under strain. We’ve celebrated inspiring engagement practice and surfaced the challenges that demand collective action.

Navigating Change Together

This conversation takes place against a backdrop of profound challenges and complexity. Universities and their partners face significant financial pressures. Public confidence in higher education is fragile. Emerging technologies are reshaping how we think about knowledge, while inequality, the climate crisis, and the polarisation of public discourse are accelerating. The Engaged Futures programme offers a new way of navigating this landscape. We believe that only by working across difference—bringing people together to share perspectives and co-create solutions—can we hope to navigate all that is happening.

What to expect at the Summit

The Summit is a chance to take stock of the journey we have travelled—a space to connect, reflect, and imagine what comes next. It provides an opportunity to check out how current policies are enabling engaged ways of working to be recognised and resourced, including the impact of the newly launched REF guidance on evidencing supportive cultures for impactful research. We’ll explore how case studies can demonstrate the value of engaged approaches and how institutions can use REF as a lever for positive change. It’s also a chance to tune into others’ practice, learn from high-quality work across the UK and internationally, and consider how we can meaningfully align our efforts to stimulate systemic change.

Join us at the Summit

This event is for everyone who believes engagement matters: those pioneering new approaches, working inside and outside the sector, advocating for policy change, and determined to make university culture more open, fair, and outward-facing. Together, we’ll confront the realities, share bold ideas for the future, and explore practical steps to turn vision into action.

So, welcome. Bring your energy, your curiosity, and your commitment. Let’s use this moment to strengthen our networks, amplify what works, and co-create the pathways that will shape the future.