About the Project
Universities play a vital role in shaping the world ahead. But many of today’s questions that matter most for our shared futures – from climate change to social inequality – do not neatly fit into any single discipline. They require people to work across areas of expertise, roles, methods, and sectors and demand new ways of thinking, collaborating and producing knowledge together.
Towards the University of the Future (TUoF) starts from the belief that collaboration across difference is central to the future of universities and should NOT be left to chance.
Traditional academic structures remain strongly discipline-focused, with existing governance models, funding systems, career pathways, spaces, and forms of recognition shaping what kinds of collaboration become possible. To become more resilient, responsive, and future-oriented institutions, universities need to support more ambitious, creative, and connected forms of research, learning, partnership, and public engagement. For that, we need to better understand the conditions that make collaborations flourish and endure.
At the University of Glasgow, collaboration already happens in many forms: across Schools and Colleges, between researchers and professional services colleagues, and with partners in policy, industry, and communities. TUoF builds on these strengths and brings attention to the everyday conditions through which people learn from each other, build trust, navigate boundaries, share expertise, and work confidently across difference.
What does the project aim to do?
- Develop and share the conditions that enable ‘collaboration across difference’ to flourish and endure.
- Use ARC as a living lab to observe, test, and model new ways of working collaboratively.
- Strengthen institutional support for interdisciplinary research across the entire research lifecycle.
- Inform how University systems – from funding to recognition and reward – can evolve to better sustain collaboration long-term.
- Build networks, methods, and communities of practice that embed change across roles, Schools, and Colleges.
- Contribute to sector-leading thought leadership on what an equitable, collaborative, future‑oriented university can be.
How does the project attain these aims?
- Mapping existing practices, strengths, gaps, and infrastructures that support or hinder collaboration.
- Prototyping and testing new tools, workshops, and future-oriented practices – from speculative writing to ‘Tomorrow Parties’ – that rehearse new forms of collaboration.
- Embedding and enabling change by translating findings into practical guidance, policies, communities of practice, and leadership development.
- Disseminating and sustaining learning through digital outputs, films, podcasts, publications, and a major 2028 University Futures Summit.
- Operating with continuous project management and cross-University engagement, ensuring coherence, alignment, and long-term impact.