“On the 11th of March 2025, I was fortunate to be invited to represent both the University Alliance’s (UA) Doctoral Training Alliance Programme (DTA) and Teesside University at a parliamentary reception at the Palace of Westminster. Vice Chancellors of multiple UA universities were in attendance, alongside Members of Parliament, the Shadow Cabinet and even the Minister for Skills, Baroness Jacqui Smith.
“The purpose of the event was to highlight the critical role of professional and technical universities in terms of impactful research, teaching, skills provision and expanding opportunity and access. What follows is the speech I made to the event, which was received exceptionally positively – much to my relief! Reflecting on my experiences as a PhD student at Teesside University and my time as part of the Doctoral Training Programme provided by the UA, I argued that such higher education mechanisms should lie at the heart of reducing spatial inequalities particularly in so-called ‘left behind’ regions.
UA Universities and Addressing Spatial Inequity
“My name is Jake Milner, and I am a third-year PhD candidate at Teesside University. I’d like to highlight very quickly the importance of the research UA Universities do and the role Doctoral Training Alliance Programmes through cross-university alliances play. I have experienced this myself, having been part of the UA Doctoral Training Programme over the past two and a half years.
“It will come as no great surprise that I think that universities, such as Teesside University and other Alliance Universities, are critically important. In the current age of devolution, we have collectively accepted that regions should have the ability and power to facilitate and create positive change for themselves – after all, who knows the region better than the people who live and study there? Within this state of affairs lies the alliance university and specifically alliance universities in so-called ‘left behind’ regions. If we are to truly ‘level up’, or address spatial inequity particularly in left behind regions, the role of the university, the alliance university, is pivotal.
“There is no better example of the critical role UA universities play in their respective regions than Teesside. Economically, Teesside University drives the economy of the Tees Valley region – making an annual contribution of £136m GVA (Gross Valued Added). In 2023/24 alone, the university generated 41 graduate startup companies from its Launchpad facility. It has 2000 apprenticeship learners, studying 39 different apprenticeships. It is not just about the economic. Teesside University is the only university in the Northeast to have received an overall gold award in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework, recognising its teaching quality and impressive student outcomes. However, most crucially, it has a strong track record in widening participation: in 2022/23, 87.4% of TU’s students were from a disadvantaged background, and 74.5% were from the Northeast. In many ‘left behind’ regions, universities such as Teesside are not just part of the community. They are the community’s beating heart.
Place Based Research
“My very PhD – and the funding attached to it – is a consequence of this importance. Everyone in this room will be aware of the ongoing climate crises, what some of you may not be aware of is the fact that Teesside is to be a major behemoth of the next industrial revolution – the green industrial revolution. Having been a former industrial centre for the steel and chemical industries, and experienced industrial decline that has seen spatial inequality intensify as a consequence of deindustrialisation, the green economy provides hope of change for Teesside. Net Zero Power Stations, Biomass, offshore wind manufacturing, hydrogen production and carbon capture and storage all provide new opportunities. However, to ensure that such a transition can be smooth, fair, equitable, and benefit those who need it the most, academic research to understand the needs, wants, and expectations of the local community is needed. And this is the critical point. Teesside University, Alliance universities, provide critically important services and research in order to contribute towards the betterment of the local communities they are embedded in. It is, in my opinion, a noble yet necessary mission.
Doctoral Training Programmes: Skills, Opportunities, and Community
“Research and Development is undoubtedly an important role for UA universities however so is teaching, upskilling, and training the future generations for industry and academia. I have been fortunate enough to be part of the Doctoral Training Alliance Programme as part of my PhD. The DTA provide early carer researchers at UA universities, like myself, an enhanced collaborative training programme that aims to develop the next generation of researchers, who are undertaking high-impact research through the UA’s national network of universities. So, it is about training, however, I’d argue that such programmes offer much more than that.
“There are three crucial elements that make doctoral training programmes important, in my experience. The first is the skills I have gained both in terms of completing a PhD but for research and building a career more generally. The DTA provide the nitty-gritty needed for passing your PhD, Viva prep, research methods training, research ethics help, presentation skills etc. The program blends together experienced trainers who have done research for years with peer-led programs in which fellow PhD students can help each other gain the skills needed.
“While skills are, of course, critical, the DTA also gives its participants a chance at real opportunities that may not have been otherwise available. For example, after I wrote a blog on my PhD topic for the UA website and posted it to social media, I received a research assistant job offer from one of the most well-respected human geographers in the country. That sort of opportunity would not have been possible If I had not have taken training on writing academic blogs and then been given the space to write an academic blog in the first place.
“But I also think the opportunities are much more obvious. The events the DTA holds including writing retreats, summer schools, and other training conferences are held at the different UA universities which means you get the opportunity to travel around the country. I, myself am from a council estate in Darlington, 20 minutes down the road from Teesside University. I did all my degrees at Teesside University and really had not travelled much at all, I’d never been to London prior to the PhD. Now I’ve had a chance to come to London a multitude of times, Cambridge, Birmingham, Leeds, Derby later this year and so the list goes on. I’ve had the opportunity to see the different Universities and what they offer and that is something that I simply would not have had the opportunity to do so otherwise.
“Lastly, I think the most important element of the DTA (and I think this is often overlooked) is the people and the sense of community that comes with it. Attending these events, seeing my fellow DTA cohort 3 times a year between all the online training and so forth. A PhD can be a very lonely affair – most PhD candidates work from home, you’re in your own head thinking an awful lot, if you’re doing it right you should be looking at something that is unique and few others in the world are studying the exact same thing you are. So, to be able to have an external community to your university full of people who are going through the same process you are is invaluable, especially in the intensely individualistic society we live in today.
“I can’t undersell how crucial the UA Doctoral Training Alliance programme has been to my PhD experience and the experience of others – I hope this has given you an insight. Thank you.”
