Ideas in Practice events influencing real-world change

Ideas in Practice is our flagship corporate event series, uniting industry, policymakers and the third sector with leading academics to address today’s most pressing challenges. Our mission is to produce research that makes an impact on society, business and the economy.

The series began in 2016 and has hosted over 95 events, from small-scale workshops to symposiums and all-day conferences. Key issues in technology and innovation, finance and the economy, international business, health care and wellbeing, as well as environmental sustainability and inclusive societies, have been addressed by a wide range of senior representatives from Lloyds Banking Group, global law firm Squire Patton Boggs, Leeds City Council, international retailer The Body Shop and Google Health, to name but a few.

A dynamic 2024/25 series of events highlighted the transformative role of innovation and policy across sectors. The growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care and law, along with its recognition as a medical device, illustrated the rapid pace of technological change. Sustainability, climate risk and social value were major topics of exploration, while inclusive strategies promoted local currency financing and reframed migration to better support “low-skilled” workers. A global lens on Just Transition further underscored the need for equitable, people-centred approaches to systemic change. The events fostered innovation, shaped debate, and advanced practical solutions.

Spotlighting AI innovation across sectors

Held as part of the annual Leeds Digital Festival, we opened the academic year with “The Business of AI”, a collaborative effort between the Business School’s Research Impact and Engagement and External Engagement teams.

Reaching upwards of 100 registrations and hosted on campus in the School of Law’s Liberty Building, the event began with a keynote by Rashik Parmar, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the British Computer Society at the Chartered Institute for IT, and member of the Business School’s Research International Advisory Board (RIAB), exploring whether AI represents a “boom or bust” for business. A panel, featuring Howard Feng and Shui Liu from Med Frontier Supplies & Consultancy and Viknesh Sounderajah from YouTube Health, unpacked how organisations are using AI to sharpen their competitive edge.

Finally, we heard from our Business School academics, including Professor Chee Yew Wong, Professor Shahla Ghobadi and Dr Nabi Omidvar, on how AI is driving innovation in supply chains, marketing and finance. The event blended sector insights with academic rigour and encouraged responsible AI adoption. It also lay the groundwork for future collaboration, which we aim to mark internally by continued partnership with the External Engagement team on the Leeds Digital Festival.

Read the blog post: Using AI as a force for management innovation

Analysing climate risk for financial systems

We helped the Leeds Innovation Hub of the multi-million pound UKRI funded UK Centre for Green Financing Investment (CGFI) deliver an event on “What comes next after CBES (Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario), and what role for integrated climate- nature risk analysis?”, which took place in October 2024 at Nexus, Leeds.

Alongside the Integrating Finance and Biodiversity Programme (IFB) and the Resilient Planet Finance Lab, the event welcomed key stakeholders from finance, science and policy to discuss how climate and nature-related risks can be better integrated into financial decision-making.

Chaired by Professor Iain Clacher, the event included reflections on the legacy of the Bank of England’s Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario (CBES) exercise; research findings conducted by the University of Oxford, the University of Leeds and the Climate Financial Risk Forum; and concluded with an interactive session focused on the necessity of shaping future priorities for united risk analysis.

Visit the website: UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment

Exploring social value and sustainability in complex supply chains

For the second year running, we co-hosted the “Ideas in Practice Supply Chain Summit” with the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW) at the University’s Cloth Hall Court. This year’s summit was coordinated around the themes of “collaboration, social value and sustainability in complex supply chains”.

Highlights included a keynote from the ICW’s CEO Frank Lee, who spoke on the benefits of “structured collaboration”, and a joint presentation which was delivered by Professor Chee Yew Wong and TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) West Alliance leaders Brian Walton and Gareth Williams on embedding the requirement for social impact into business contracts.

The programme comprised interviews on modern slavery and risk-sharing contracts, along with breakout discussions on circularity and emissions reduction. Lastly, the summit paved the way for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Business School and the ICW, and we very much look forward to cementing an ongoing partnership to drive impact together across complex supply chains.

Read the blog post: Exploring collaboration and social value in supply chains at the Supply Chain Summit 2024

Listen to the podcast: Collaboration done right - key traits of successful partnerships

Artificial Intelligence as a medical device: the changing face of medicine

Our first event of 2025 was Professor Krsto Pandza and Visiting Professor of Research Impact Hutan Ashrafian’s “AI Meets Medicine: Strategies, Start-ups and Corporate Innovation”. A follow-up to their 2023 “Leadership for Digital Innovation in Medtech” event, this was also held at Nexus, to reinforce the perception of Leeds as a hub for medtech innovation.

The event offered a fast-paced investigation into how AI as a medical device is transforming health care and the challenges that brings. Presentations were delivered by Umang Patel, Chief Clinical Officer at Microsoft; Maciej Kardas, Commercial Manager at Optellum; and Johan Ordish, Head of Digital Health and Innovation Policy at Roche Diagnostics.

Panel discussions tackled leadership in scaling AI and the practical realities of adoption in clinical settings, drawing on insights from Optellum, openEHR International, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Gritstone. Research shared by Professors Pandza and Ashrafian highlighted that policy and regulation alone cannot drive innovation - success also depends on entrepreneurial vision and strong managerial capabilities. For AI in health care to truly advance, it must be rooted in medical and technological expertise and supported by clear communication with investors, regulators and users.

Read the blog post: AI meets healthcare: why management matters more than technology

Shaping the future of law with people and technology

In April, we proudly sponsored our third LegalTech in Leeds Annual Conference in collaboration with Whitecap Consulting. We were pleased to welcome over 200 attendees for a full day’s programme of keynotes, presentations, panel discussions, rapid-fire showcases and breakout sessions. The theme of “People & Technology” sparked lively discussions on ethical transformation in the evolving legal sector.

Our lead academic, Dr Virág Blazsek from the School of Law, delivered a thought-provoking keynote on the energy policy dimensions of legaltech, urging the UK to consider its current outputs and how we can build the necessary infrastructure to thrive in this field. Other University of Leeds representation was provided by Dr Steven Montagu-Cairns (School of Law), who spoke on a panel about the future of legal education; Professor Danat Valizade (LUBS) partnered with Keith Bermingham (Clio) to present a breakout session on AI in small- and medium-sized law firms; and Eric Mathews (KTP Associate, LUBS) joined with Angela Hesketh (PEXA) to explore how AI and machine learning are transforming property transactions.

The sessions demonstrated the effective collaboration between the work in academia, from both the Business School and the School of Law, and software solutions being developed by the likes of Katchr and Matterbee to ensure law firms stay at the cutting-edge of technological progress.

Read the blog post: The energy policy dimensions of LegalTech

Listen to the podcast: The two forces driving legal tech growth: people and power

Pathways to scale up local currency financing

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) play a pivotal role in supporting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the dominance of foreign currency lending has left many LMICs exposed to exchange rate volatility and rising debt service costs, raising the urgent need for alternative financing solutions.

Professor Nina Kaltenbrunner and her research team led on this international webinar, where they presented new findings from their MDB Challenge Fund–supported study addressing how MDBs can scale up local currency financing.

Professor Kaltenbrunner opened the event by stating the legal and regulatory hurdles they uncovered, while Dr Bruno Bonizzi from Hertfordshire Business School examined credit and exchange rate risks and offered policy recommendations for changing the landscape. The webinar closed with a question-and-answer session, in which the audience posed their thoughts regarding the report’s results to the full research team and enquired about the path forward for MDBs to deliver more resilient, locally anchored finance.

Visit the webpage and read the report: Enhancing MDB Capacity through Local Currency Financing

Exploring global perspectives on just transition

Our first overseas conference, we were delighted to support “Global Perspectives on Labour, Climate Policy and Just Transition” alongside the Hans Boeckler Foundation and with assistance from the European Trade Union Institute.

Professor Vera Trappmann, the primary investigator for the research, ambitiously brought together just transition policies and initiatives across 14 countries worldwide from a multi-year research project. Attracting over 400 sign-ups for both in-person attendance in Brussels and online, this conference evidenced a huge appetite for inclusive and equitable climate action.

The programme offered a comparative lens on how labour agency, institutional frameworks and community embeddedness influence the shape of just transition policies. Voices from Germany to South Africa, and China to Colombia, illustrated the interplay between bottom-up ideas and top-down governance, sparking valuable cross- country conversation. The conference closed with a screening of filmmaker Vivian Price’s “Voices from the Green Transition”, a documentary grounding the research in the lived experiences of workers navigating climate-induced industrial shifts.

Visit the webpage for various project outputs: Just Transition: action, concepts, debates and strategies - an international comparison across 14 countries

Migration policy: reframing the “low-skilled” narrative for inclusive growth

We ended this academic year’s series of events on a high at One Great George Street in Westminster, London, with “Re-thinking Migration Policy for Inclusive Growth”; a timely forum for looking into the post-Brexit impact on labour, as well as acknowledging the government’s current UK Immigration White Paper.

Professor Gabriella Alberti of the Labour Mobility in Transition (LiMITs) research team presented their main findings on skills shortages across four key sectors: social care, hospitality, food manufacturing, and logistics. Sectoral and policy perspectives were contributed by Laura Anthony from Skills for Care; Mackenzie Lunga, a member of BASNET (UK BME Anti-slavery Network); and Richard Nicholson from the NHS West Yorkshire, who spoke on the future of social care, preventing exploitation in low-paid work and regional support for displaced workers.

A wide cross-section of delegates attended, with particular prominence coming from UK Government departments, including the Home Office, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Department for Work and Pensions. With this strong foundation, the LiMITs team hope to strategise with the departments further on practical, mutually beneficial approaches to employment, skills and migration. The final panel discussion, which centred on shifting the view of low-paid work to that of “good work” in inclusive growth, laid the cornerstone for ongoing dialogue in hopefully shaping a joined-up approach to migration policy.

Visit the webpage and read the report: Labour mobility in transition: a multi-actor study of the re-regulation of migrant work in 'low-skilled' sectors (LIMITS)

Read The Conversation: Four myths about ‘low-skilled’ migration busted

Looking forward to the 2025/2026 academic year

In 2025/2026, we will continue our strategic partnerships with influential industry stakeholders, both across the “Ideas in Practice” seminar series and via other engagement channels, whilst generating more collaborative outputs to support putting our academics’ work in practice.

Upcoming events include our annual partnership with the External Engagement team on the Leeds Digital Festival and the Supply Chain Summit led by Professor Chee Yew Wong.

Visit the Ideas in Practice webpage for further details.