Eastern Arc Annual Report 2022-23 published

The Eastern Arc Annual Report 2022-23 has been published.

The year saw the Consortium beginning to address some of the significant challenges and opportunities facing the region, starting with its coastal communities.

We published our baseline survey of the social and economic context of the coastal towns and communities (CTCs) in our region. There are clear issues of deprivation, with the associated impact on health and wellbeing (as identified in the Chief Medical Officer’s report), but also real opportunity through the green and cultural economies.

Following publication, we held our flagship conference that focussed on ‘the collaborative coast’. It was our most successful yet, with over 140 delegates.

We then worked with the keynote speaker, Prof Jules Pretty (Essex), to develop a manifesto for a ‘blue-green revolution,’ recognising that there is hope and opportunity for our CTCs if there is the imagination and political will to realise it.

We also established the Coastal Data (or ‘Coda’) Network, which brings together colleagues in local authorities and the NHS to look at ways to tackle the ‘paucity of data’ identified by Chris Whitty.

However, it wasn’t all been about the coast. We also began the work of opening up our resources across the Arc, starting with our imaging equipment, as well as continuing to develop networks and communities of common interest, and continued to advocate for and on behalf of our universities and our region, inputting into issues such as the assocation with Horizon Europe.

To find out more you can read the report here: Annual Report 2022-23 (pdf).