Communications teams at institutes across the Norwich Research Park have been shortlisted for a prestigious national public relations award.

The Norwich Research Park Public Affairs Group has been shortlisted in the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Awards 2023 in the category of best Public Affairs campaign. The CIPR Excellence Awards final takes place at a ceremony in London on 28 June.

The Norwich Research Park Public Affairs Group brings together communications and policy professionals from the Anglia Innovation Partnership, Quadram Institute, John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Earlham Institute, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of East Anglia.

Over the past year the Norwich Research Park public affairs campaign to put science in Norwich on the map with politicians and policymakers has seen research park scientists and clinicians proactively engage with civil servants over the development of the new Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act.

The world-class science taking place in the city has also drawn in-person visits to the Norwich Research Park by Science Minister George Freeman MP, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, three government department Chief Scientific Advisers, and many of the region’s MPs.

Professor Ian Charles, Quadram Institute Director, said: “For too long Norwich and the outstanding scientists on the Norwich Research Park have been something of a well-kept secret but we’re determined to change that. This campaign is a great example of raising the profile of the strong, collaborative power of the Park’s cluster of research excellence in plant and food science, sustainability and human health.”

The Norwich Research Park Public Affairs Group is chaired by Julian Little (AIP) and includes Juliette Halliwell (AIP), Saskia Hervey (Earlham Institute/UEA), Eva Sharpe, Felicity Perry, David Roberts (John Innes Centre), Andrew Stronach (Quadram Institute), Mia Cerfonteyn (The Sainsbury Laboratory) and Janice Bradfield (Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).

Roz Bird, Chief Executive Officer of Anglia Innovation Partnership LLP, said: “‘Anglia Innovation Partnership LLP (AIP) is the science park company that manages Norwich Research Park. We help to co-ordinate campus-wide initiatives such as the public affairs group. With four research institutes, a university, a teaching hospital and a growing tenant community, on site, we are a powerful science cluster when we co-ordinate and work together. I am really proud to support the work of our Norwich Research Park public affairs group which is making an important contribution to the success of science not just at the campus but in the UK and internationally.’

Notes to editors:

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the world’s only Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners, with nearly 10,000 members.

Norwich Research Park is one of five Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded UK Research and Innovation campuses and is the only site with three BBSRC funded research institutes. The research park is also home to a fourth research institute, a university, a university hospital and a community of over 40 businesses.