At AUDE27 (The University of Edinburgh, 12-15 April) we’ll be summoning up some independent fighting spirit. It can be easy to feel a little daunted by the sheer scale of the challenges we face – on financial sustainability, on energy and net zero, on the funding gap between the services we provide and the income we can earn for our work as universities, on the apparent impossibility of catching up with backlog maintenance. And many others. We won’t be asking you to don your kilt and come over all ‘Braveheart’ at our annual conference. But we will be asking you, in three enjoyable and challenging days with your peers amongst the AUDE community, to tap into your fighting spirit so we can jointly plot some roads ahead.
And in brand new collaborative opportunities we’ll be asking everyone that attends to join together in defining answers, so those roads ahead have the added concrete that they’ll need.
Undaunted. That’s our theme for 2027. And of course it’s a mindset as much as a theme. In recent years it has felt like the task in our universities has been not to fail, rather than to actively succeed. We need to turn that spirit around. The sheer weight, the sheer difficulty of managing estates in financially struggling institutions is huge. We need to identify the best, identify what is replicable, and open our minds to the innovative. We need to be intrepid and resolute in looking for opportunities. And we are well placed to tap into some pure Scottish grit in the capital as we summon up this fighting spirit – as much so as anywhere we can think of.
As we take up the challenge you’ll be assured of the very warmest of Scottish welcomes, including from the AUDE team and our Edinburgh hosts.
The city, of course, is an amazing place. Medieval warren. Enlightenment powerhouse. Modern political capital. The university is a key component of this fantastic home base for AUDE27, and we’ll be honoring that with sessions hosted within one of its amazing buildings, the historic McEwan Hall, and activities designed to give you a flavour of a unique and fascinating place. Many of our universities deal with aspects of the heritage challenge – matching the best of the old with every expectation of the 21st century – and Edinburgh certainly finds itself doing so. To innovate, to carry along the best of the old while remaining resilient in the face of every difficulty: as institutions and as individuals, this is what we are called on to do.
The University of Edinburgh is more than a campus. It is, in many respects, a town within a city, a diverse and interconnected estate woven into the fabric of one of the world's most historic and internationally recognised capitals. With buildings spanning six centuries, from the 1500s to today’s state-of-the-art research facilities, the University plays a unique role in shaping Edinburgh's identity, economy and cultural life. Its estate supports not only teaching and research, but also tourism, major events such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, innovation, enterprise and community engagement.
This scale and significance bring both opportunity and responsibility. Universities are increasingly challenged to preserve and maintain ageing estates whilst adapting to a rapidly changing world. Climate change, rising operational costs, ageing infrastructure and underutilised space are placing growing pressure on institutions to think differently about how their estates are managed and invested in.
This also means taking bold decisions about the size and shape of our estates, consolidating space to make better use of what we have, reducing operating costs and unlocking opportunities to commercialise surplus assets. Whether through repurposing, partnerships, alternative uses or disposal, we need to explore how our estates can work harder, generate income and release resources for reinvestment in our core academic missions.
And increasingly, the answers may lie in the data we already hold. Bringing together multiple estates datasets, from energy consumption, CAFM and building energy management systems (BEMS) to space utilisation and asset condition, is opening up new horizons for evidence based estate planning and decision making. By connecting these insights, we have the opportunity to make smarter, faster and more confident decisions about how we use, maintain and invest in our estates, enabling us to respond with greater agility to the demands of an ever changing world.
At the same time, the rise of artificial intelligence and deep-tech industries is creating demand for a new generation of research, innovation and enterprise spaces. Universities are engines of economic growth, supporting start-ups, spin-outs and scale-ups, and creating environments where research can be translated into real-world impact.
Your university does not need to be situated in a historic city such as Edinburgh to be facing similar challenges, and as always, we will meet on the common ground of shared interests and problems. This year’s AUDE Conference is a place for meeting peers, connecting ideas and approaches, and convening together to shared advantage. We very much hope you will join us.
AUDE are really looking forward to sharing more on conference with you in the coming weeks. For now, booking is open. And we can’t wait. Best conference ever? Well. We’ll try. The AUDE team is working on it already.
Any questions please email corinne@aude.ac.uk.
