An Update for the Future

Project X was first created in early 2016 and has since made an unbelievable amount of progress. We now have 6 themes covering 18 active research projects and all working towards improving project delivery and our understanding of how we deliver projects both in Government and in the wider industry.

As you may know, Terri Harrington, the Project X Director, will be leaving the IPA on the 3rd May to take up a new role in Highways England. As the original creator of Project X and one of the major driving forces behind it, this will naturally cause changes in Project X although she will continue to be involved and to lead the Project until her replacement is appointed. The time and energy Terri has put into Project X has taken it from a concept to a recognised hub of development of practical evidence based research. Project X has the full support of IPA and key professional bodies, funding from a number of sources and a community of over 200 academics, practitioners and civil servants. To sustain this achievement, a lot of thought has been put into ensuring Project X continues to be a success despite the changes in its senior leadership.

We are extremely grateful to Professor Paul Nightingale (Sussex) and Andy Gibbs (ESRC) for arranging funding for the appointment of dedicated project management resource to support Project X.  We are also grateful to 2 of our Industry sponsors, Turner & Townsend and Arcadis for supporting our work through provision of the resources needed.

We would therefore like to introduce our two new project managers: Eliza Shaw (Arcadis) and Thomas Hertlein (Turner and Townsend). Eliza and Thomas will be supporting 3 themes each, providing assistance with the development and delivery of the research projects and acting as a general project management resource to help drive each theme forward. This help will be invaluable in the progression of Project X.

Over the next few months we will be focused on improving the organisation and structure of Project X. This will include cementing the purpose of our steering groups and management boards, refining the process in which we approve research proposals and clarifying who is in each theme to enable the most efficient use of the vast array of skills and experience we have in this community.

With the above in mind, we ask you to kindly fill out a bio sheet if you have not done so already. This will allow us to improve our engagement with you and assist those who would like to be involved to do so. Please see Terri’s example below for guidance.

We are also very pleased to announce that we will be hosting another Project X conference following the success of our event on the 25th January. We expect this to be in mid September and will be sure to send you a placeholder once this has been confirmed.

We welcome any comments or input on the above and appreciate your feedback.