Revolutionary partnership

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) is a career opportunity available to UK graduates to help them become the business leaders of tomorrow. A KTP enables a UK business to bring in new skills and the latest academic thinking to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project and create transformational change in industry.

A two-year KTP between the University of Huddersfield and one of the world’s leading reinsurance companies could revolutionise the way the UK insurance industry manages early-stage sickness absence and has been labelled by UK Government as being ‘a market innovation’. Dr Serena Bartys, from the University’s Centre for Applied Research in Health, is the Lead Academic Supervisor of the 24-month project, supervising a KTP Associate working with reinsurance company Swiss Re. The project could ultimately save the UK economy millions of pounds by reducing work loss due to ill-health. The Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. The aim of the Swiss Re Group is to enable society to thrive and progress, creating new opportunities and solutions for its clients. Dr Serena Bartys says: “Leading this KTP has been hugely exciting because our research has the potential to directly influence industry, both here in the UK and globally. It has been a valuable exercise in empathy and co-creation to ensure our research connects with the people who need it – the associate, the company and their clients” The KTP Associate, Dr Abasiama Etuknwa, will use world-leading research conducted at the University, as well as Swiss Re’s industry knowledge on income protection insurance, to develop and implement an insurance-led, evidence-based return-to-work plan, that will also include input from employers.

Dr Serena Bartys, Lead Academic Supervisor

I pursued a PhD in hopes that my research could provide practical benefits in the real world. That is what the KTP offered me – a platform to bridge that gap between the learning world and the business world in terms of operationalising research in a way that benefits both parties.”

KTP Associate, Dr Abasiama Etuknwa