Client
University of Brighton
Public university with campuses in Brighton, rooted in its city and region.
About the work
The University of Brighton is a public university with campuses in Brighton and across Sussex. It’s known for art and design, health, engineering, business and the built environment, and it works closely with businesses, public services and communities across the region through research, knowledge exchange and enterprise support.
Always Possible first worked with the university on DRIVA arts DRIVA, a £1.3 million programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Arts Council England. It helped creative and tech businesses use data, including big data from Gatwick Airport. From 2019 to 2021 we designed and ran the events programme: 30 workshops, talks and webinars in Brighton, Hove, Bognor Regis, Crawley, Falmer and Worthing, with 42 expert speakers on AI, data storytelling, extended reality and data visualisation. When Covid-19 stopped in-person events, we moved the programme online. It brought small businesses, artists and researchers together and led to new collaborations.
In 2023 we ran a series of bite-size lunchtime webinars for academic staff on networking and building collaborations with business, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The university opened places to colleagues at the University of Sussex. Over 2023 and 2024 we also designed and facilitated alumni networking events for the Help to Grow: Management programme at the university’s School of Business and Law, bringing together small business leaders who had completed the course.
In 2025 the university asked us to help shape two new innovation hubs, one for sustainability and one for social innovation, to sit alongside its Health Innovation Hub at Falmer. We ran a scoping workshop, mapped potential partners, users and funders, and developed and tested naming and positioning options for each hub. We then recommended how to launch them, making sure each hub met real demand and was more than an academic exercise.
“The Always Possible team is extremely well-networked and able to facilitate connections at a wide and narrow scope. Very well organised, flexible and accommodating in support. Well-informed and knowledgeable about the sectors they operate within. They rapidly adjusted and accommodated the cancellation of physical events due to social distancing measures and provided flexible, informed expert advice about online options.”
— Stuart Hedley – Knowledge Exchange Manager, University of Brighton
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