Knowledge Transfer Partnership award for City St George’s UoL and the National Centre for Domestic Violence

Blog by Dr Darren Cook, VISION Research Fellow in Natural Language Processing

Dr Darren Cook

Introduction

I’m pleased to share that a cross-university collaboration between City St George’s School of Social Policy and Global Affairs (SPGA) and School of Science and Technology (SST) has been successful in a recent Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) competition.

Working alongside our industry partner, the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV), our project will develop data science capabilities that enhance automation, scalability, and efficiency at NCDV. This will enable improved support, faster response times, and better outcomes for victims of domestic abuse. The project is due to begin in early 2026 and will run for approximately two years.

Importantly, this is the first KTP involving SPGA. As such, it marks a significant milestone for the school, creating new pathways for impactful collaboration with industry and laying the groundwork for future projects that can translate academic expertise into measurable social change.

What is a KTP?

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a collaborative programme between UK businesses and universities, supported and part funded by Innovate UK [1].

Each KTP addresses a specific business challenge, enabling the transfer of knowledge and expertise from academia into industry through a KTP Associate. The Associate is employed by the business but supported by an academic supervisor, delivering a structured package of work designed to drive innovation and growth.

KTPs are proven to have a significant impact, generating more than £2 billion for the UK economy between 2010 and 2020 [2]. They also support the professional development of Associates, who gain unique experience at the intersection of academia and industry.

What is the focus of this KTP?

Having been successful in our funding application, I will serve as the Academic Supervisor, working alongside Dr Chris Childs (Academic Lead) and the appointed KTP Associate. Together, we will design and implement advanced data science tools to automate key data processes within NCDV.

By streamlining and scaling these processes, the project will:

  • Enable NCDV to support more victims in need.
  • Reduce response times, ensuring urgent legal protections can be accessed more quickly.
  • Provide a replicable model of innovation that could benefit other organisations in the domestic abuse sector.

This partnership also has substantial potential impact for REF, by generating demonstrable evidence of social and economic benefit from research-led activity.

Who are the NCDV?

The National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) [3] is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that helps victims of domestic abuse obtain urgent legal protection through the courts.

Domestic abuse is a widespread and pressing issue:

  • An estimated 2.1 million people in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse per year (1.4 million women and 751,000 men) [4].
  • Police in England and Wales receive over 100 calls relating to domestic abuse every hour [5].

Against this backdrop, the work of NCDV is vital. This KTP will strengthen their capacity to respond to high demand and ensure more victims can access the protection they need.

References

[1] Innovate UK – Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
[2] Innovate UK, KTP Impact Report
[3] National Centre for Domestic Violence
[4] Office for National Statistics, “Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2023.”
[5] Refuge, “Domestic abuse statistics.”

For further information, please contact Darren at darren.cook@citystgeorges.ac.uk

News