Some background for Professor Fergus Lyon on Custom

Cherry: “A lot of our focus will be about embedding research into our practice. 
Custom is run by Artists. Board of Directors include an artist, architect, env comms specialist (Kent AONB) and env scientist. We have this cross over of art & env that meets at god security.
We ran a restaurant for almost 2 years. Tried to take as much cash out of the system as possible. Bartering, encouraged for ppl to bring in local ingredients, volunteer community members grew food, etc. We found we were achieving our aims better with the growing project and the community connections than running a commercial restaurant. So we allowed it to reach its demise. Unsurprising that we couldn’t change the restaurant world with one shipping container in folkestone! 
But along the way we’ve run a series of festivals (eg something held in the mouth funded by Arts Council), symposium on artistic practices and food security. 
So now we set about creating new garden in a care home. We’ve secured Arts Council emergency funding and properly established our community of international artists as a research network. And just put in another massive arts council application to bring them back together for a symposium next year. Pulled in funding from UnLtd and National Lottery and Persimmon Homes (private funds).
Folkestone is and will be a very important place for food security and resilience – for literal survival:

• Folkestone is in top 10% of deprived communities in the country. The most deprived ward in Kent. 
• On the edge of a cliff it will be one of the first to be wiped out. 
• Impact on mental health also needs to be considered.

We got back in touch with Alise because she’d suggested using care home gardens for viable green spaces for growing. Now we have intergenerational links and knowledge transfer within a community. How do we store and share that knowledge. We need different kinds of organisation for the future.”

Fergus: “This chimes so well with what we’re doing, researching different models of social business. The link between health and arts and food is a theme of CUSP. 

Three options for pursuing research

1. KTP
2. PhD
3. Professional Doctorate

1) KTP

Formed to encourage business to get innovative ideas to market.
Universities to get out and improve what they do, the Associate builds up their skills. The university puts the bid in, the biz has to commit to funding 1/3, then together they advertise for the Associate. Do interview together and company has final say / veto. Then the person is employed by uni but workplace is at the SE. Regimented quarterly meetings. Application is onerous but they give you an adviser to write the application and sits in on quarterly meetings. The Advisors tend to be really good. Various other agreements re IP with company but Uni can publish on it

It might be that if you get the KTP you could register for free as a PhD student because you’d be an employee of the uni.

Fergus: KTPs are designed for widget makers to help the economy. That’s how they think, but if you can turn what you’re doing into their language they’d love it, but it will be on their terms. You’d have to talk about developing a product or service. It’s also got to be shown to be an investment in a business to justify it to chancellor of exchequer.  

Cherry: I feel like we spend a lot of our lives disguising anti-capitalist strategies for capitalists!

Fergus: there is some requirement to have a track record with accounts. 

Cherry: Last year £62k and this year £100k

Fergus: We might be on the smaller end for the KTP. Part of it is to pay the uni overheads. It tends to be a 2 year project costing £60k which the biz put is in £20k so it might not be quite right at this stage…
Once you get Esmee Fairbairn you can get KTP funding off the back of it. Might be the next stage after conceptualising and launching.

Also worth considering SMART awards from innovate UK, usually for earlier stage businesses: smaller amounts / seed funding.

2) PhD

At the moment Middlesex works with ESRC and they’re reorganising their PhD funding. Not sure about AHRC. I think Unis get given studentships and then they decide how best to spend it eg subject are. A classic Phd might be about understanding similar projects and bringing them back, less about being in the heart of the org. 
Agreed not relevant enough to our mission. 

3) ProfDoc (DProf) – at the heart of the org and reflecting on the learning of the individual.

Agreed this is the most suited to my preferred personal journey and Custom’s needs. 

Now need to create the DProf proposal for the uni application, and then CUSTOM can create a biz plan proposal with research at the heart of it, and take it to other funders. (Get a big chunk of funding for Middlesex on the understanding it would go towards sponsoring a DProf) 

Fergus agreed I should be able to start in January if we can find a way around the student fees. I am happy to be unpaid until that funding comes in, but I don’t want to have to pay the £5500/year for study. 

Next steps

1. Fergus to connect me to Patrick in the hopes he can share his DProf proposal
2. Once we start, Fergus & I can write a CUSP working paper – this will partially justify Fergus or Patrick’s time as I will be a CUSP fellow. 
3. Start exploring ways we can share the information with others, as interactive work nowadays is really difficult. Artists or participatory theatre?