Engagement
Identifying and engaging local stakeholders
Queen Mary has written frameworks and procedures for identifying and engaging local stakeholders outside the University. The Civic University Agreement provides the main framework for this work. It was developed through consultation, co-analysis and collaborative prioritisation with more than 300 people who live, work or study in East London, including residents, third-sector organisations, businesses, Queen Mary staff and students. The Agreement identifies five areas for long-term civic action, including inclusive place-making, lifelong opportunity, health and sustainability, culture and civic practice.
This is supported by Queen Mary’s Principles of Equitable Partnership in Public Engagement, which were co-designed with representatives of local community organisations and Queen Mary partners. The principles set expectations for working with external partners in ways that recognise community knowledge, share decision-making and create mutual benefit.
Queen Mary’s civic delivery arrangements provide a continuing process for using these frameworks. Local authorities, health organisations, businesses, schools, voluntary organisations, faith groups and community organisations are identified as strategic civic partners, and their involvement is built into the governance and delivery of the Civic University Agreement.
Giving local stakeholders a role in University decision-making
Queen Mary provides formal and recurring mechanisms through which local government, civil society and other East London stakeholders can participate in shaping the University’s civic priorities. The Civic Advisory Board oversees the direction and implementation of Queen Mary’s Civic University Agreement. Its membership combines senior Queen Mary leaders with strategic partners from across the seven East London boroughs, including representatives from local authorities, education, health, business, voluntary organisations, faith organisations and community sectors. External stakeholders therefore take part in the governance of Queen Mary’s civic work rather than being consulted only after decisions have been made.
The East London Civic Action Network provides a wider participatory mechanism. It brings together residents, organisations, institutions, networks and leaders from across East London to identify shared challenges and develop collaborative action with Queen Mary.
At its launch in September 2024, more than 100 people came together at Redbridge Town Hall, including faith communities, voluntary and community organisations, local authorities, NHS teams, elected leaders and Queen Mary researchers and staff. The first meeting focused on health equity and was designed to build connections, identify priorities and develop collaboration across East London. The Network continues through events and regular communication around the priorities of the Civic University Agreement. These mechanisms give local stakeholders a continuing role in shaping Queen Mary’s civic priorities, partnerships and activities.
Providing education and capacity-building for policy- and law-makers
Queen Mary provides outreach, professional education, upskilling and capacity-building for people working in government, law, public policy and the judiciary. Through the Centre for Commercial Law Studies Executive Education programme, Queen Mary provides specialist training in areas including international investment law, arbitration, taxation, procurement, trade and sustainable development. Programmes are designed for professionals including government officials, government lawyers, judges, treaty negotiators and people working in public institutions.
In 2025, Queen Mary strengthened its long-running judicial education partnership with the Office of the Judiciary of Thailand. A new agreement formalised continuing cooperation on executive legal education and judicial training. Queen Mary had already hosted multiple cohorts of Thai judges, including senior Supreme Court justices, and the partnership was expanded to address emerging legal issues and adapt training to the needs of the Thai judiciary.
The International Investment Law and Arbitration programme is a 10-week programme, aimed primarily at government officials and equips participants with practical skills for handling investor-state disputes, interpreting treaties, assessing jurisdiction and understanding state obligations. These activities give government officials, judges and policy professionals specialist knowledge and practical skills that can be applied directly in public-sector and legal decision-making.
Providing a neutral space for political dialogue
Queen Mary provides neutral, structured spaces where people with different political, professional and public perspectives can come together to discuss difficult policy challenges.
The Citizens’ Assembly on Trade and Climate was jointly delivered by Queen Mary, the Trade Justice Movement and deliberative-democracy organisation MutualGain. The Assembly created a structured space for members of the public to consider competing evidence and discuss how UK trade policy should respond to climate change. Fifty-nine members of the UK public were selected to reflect the demographic diversity of the UK population and spent 35 hours learning, discussing and deliberating. Participants heard evidence from government, business, trade unions, civil society, academics and other experts. An Advisory Board representing different professional and political perspectives was responsible for helping ensure that the evidence presented was accurate and balanced, while a separate Evidence Committee provided challenge and ensured that participants heard a range of perspectives.
The deliberative process was designed to make discussion accessible and balanced. Participants worked in facilitated small groups, examined the advantages and disadvantages of different policy options, debated trade-offs and negotiated recommendations before voting. The process produced 15 recommendations to the UK Government, each supported by at least 80% of Assembly members. Ninety-four per cent of participants later said they would recommend taking part in a similar randomly selected process. The recommendations were published in December 2024 and launched at the UK Parliament, taking the results of the deliberation directly to policymakers.
Queen Mary also provides an ongoing platform for political discussion through the Mile End Institute, its centre for politics and public policy. The Institute describes its role as promoting constructive conversation between politicians, academics, journalists, campaigners and the wider public. During 2024 and 2025, it hosted public discussions on elections, political parties, economic policy, democracy and constitutional reform, bringing together people from government, academia, journalism, think tanks and civil society. One of such event was How to Replace ‘First Past the Post’: Electoral Reform in Action, where participants examined competing electoral systems and voted on their preferred option, and discussions on the future of the Conservative Party, the political economy of the Labour Government and challenges to democracy internationally.
The Citizens’ Assembly and Mile End Institute provide the neutral platform and structured space required by this metric: different political and policy perspectives are presented, evidence is challenged, participants can debate openly, and difficult issues can be discussed without the University prescribing a political position.