Building on a history of collaboration and a strong relationship, the University of Derby and the Devonshire Group have established a strategic partnership. This collaboration aims to provide mutually beneficial opportunities that create significant impacts and experiential benefits for students, staff, visitors, and regional communities. By combining resources and expertise, the partnership seeks to enhance educational experiences, support innovative research projects, and contribute to the cultural and economic development of Derbyshire.
About the Devonshire Group and Chatsworth House Trust
The Devonshire Group comprises businesses and charities throughout the UK and Ireland, including farming, sustainable forestry, retail, luxury accommodation and property development. It is a custodian of heritage assets in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Sussex and County Waterford, Ireland. The Group is committed to conservation, sustainability, and the promotion of cultural and educational initiatives.
The Chatsworth House Trust is a charity established in 1981 to care for the house, collections, garden, and parkland, for everyone. Almost one million people visit Chatsworth each year from the UK and around the world. Visitor income and fundraising funds essential conservation and an ambitious programme of exhibitions, events, learning and community outreach.
Partnership highlights
Since renewing the strategic partnership in 2023, the University of Derby and the Devonshire Group have:
- Received national recognition through a NEON Award for widening access.
- Supported more than 200 University of Derby students through visits, live briefs, projects and learning experiences at Chatsworth House, its gardens and estate.
- Reached more than 110 young people through joint widening participation initiatives.
- Delivered careers and aspiration-raising activities through programmes including Rise High and HE Can.
- Created opportunities for students to work on live projects with Chatsworth House Trust colleagues.
- Supported collaborative research, knowledge exchange and civic engagement activity across Derbyshire.
- Launched the Chancellor's Entrepreneurs' Club to help students and graduates develop enterprise skills and professional networks.
Mutual benefits
The partnership between the University of Derby and the Devonshire Group creates mutual benefits by leveraging the strengths and resources of both institutions. For the Devonshire Group and Chatsworth House Trust, the collaboration brings fresh perspectives and innovative approaches to public engagement and impact assessment. For the University, it provides unique learning experiences and research opportunities for students and staff, enhancing the university’s academic offerings and reputation.
Measuring Economic Impact
The University of Derby supported the Devonshire Group to conduct an innovative economic assessment through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) and the recruitment of an economics graduate, James Pickering, to work full-time on this two-year project.
The KTP developed a methodology and set of tools for the Devonshire Group to measure its total economic impact each year, through the consideration of:
- Direct impact: impact of their own operations
- Supplies: their spend with suppliers and suppliers' own supply chains
- Payroll: employees – expenditure on consumer goods and services
- Visitors: visitors – spillover impacts on other sectors in the economy
- Tenants: businesses – economic activity of tenants
This KTP has benefitted all parties and the wider community. The Devonshire Group has an accurate measure of its economic impact over the last three years, and now has a set of user-friendly tools and processes in-house to continue measuring its activities and informing its strategy.
Developing future talent
The Devonshire Group is one of Derbyshire's largest employers. Through the strategic partnership, University of Derby students have engaged directly with professionals working across heritage, conservation, hospitality, farming, HR, visitor experience, fashion, commercial operations and land management.
These opportunities help students develop professional skills, gain industry insight and explore potential career pathways, while enabling the Devonshire Group and Chatsworth House Trust to connect with emerging talent and future graduates.
Students have benefited from:
- Guest lectures and industry input from Devonshire Group professionals
- Live business, accounting and marketing briefs
- Placements, volunteering and graduate employment opportunities
- Curriculum development and industry advisory contributions
- Research projects and internships in areas including social impact assessment and collections management
- Practical experience across heritage, conservation, hospitality, land management and visitor experience.
Our undergraduate accounting and marketing students have engaged in an annual live brief project for Chatsworth House Trust. The 2023 assignment challenged students to recommend how Chatsworth House Trust could improve performance through reducing costs or increasing sales.
The partnership has also supported curriculum development and industry engagement across a range of subject areas. Devonshire Group colleagues have contributed to teaching, advisory activity and professional development opportunities, helping students gain insight into current industry practice.
Research projects, placements and internships within the Devonshire Group provide valuable hands-on experience, helping students build skills, confidence and professional networks while enhancing their employability.
Fashion Design and Chatsworth House Trust
One of the partnership's most successful examples of collaboration has been the work between the University of Derby's Fashion programmes and Chatsworth House Trust.
Since 2024, more than 200 Fashion students have engaged with Chatsworth through exhibition visits, live briefs and feedback from Trust colleagues. Inspired by exhibitions including Imaginary Conversations and The Gorgeous Nothings: Flowers at Chatsworth, students have developed creative design projects that connect heritage, fashion and professional practice.
Most recently, BA Fashion Design and Fashion Design & Marketing students worked on a live brief to design new uniforms for Chatsworth staff. Students presented their ideas to Trust colleagues and received direct feedback, gaining valuable real-world industry experience. Five winning designs were selected, with those students invited to visit Chatsworth's textile stores and workshops.
Chancellor's Entrepreneurs' Club
Launched in 2026 by University Chancellor William Burlington and Theo Paphitis, Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Derby, the Chancellor's Entrepreneurs' Club helps students and recent graduates develop the skills, confidence and networks needed to become future business leaders and innovators.
Through workshops, mentoring, networking opportunities and industry engagement, members gain practical insight into entrepreneurship and business growth. The partnership with the Devonshire Group will support future activities and challenges, helping students connect their ideas and ambitions with real-world business experience.
Civic engagement and widening participation
Krisha Bainham, Head of Widening Access, and Gill Hart, Head of Learning & Engagement at Chatsworth House Trust, created the Rise High project for Key Stage 3 students in low-progression areas of rural Derbyshire. This 15-month programme offers arts and career activities to help students from under-represented backgrounds build skills, plan careers, and gain confidence.
The initiative includes school launch events, in-school workshops, a career exploration day at Chatsworth, and a University Experience Day, culminating in a celebration event at Chatsworth. Results showed that 100% of students understood what a university is and that, after the Chatsworth visit, 78% saw the value in developing career skills. There were significant improvements in career awareness and confidence about university. Future plans involve incorporating additional career opportunities and sharing outcomes through publications and conferences.
Feedback from students and a teacher illustrated the programme's positive impact. One student mentioned, "It helped me feel confident in lessons," indicating increased self-assurance in their academic environment. Another student stated, "It has opened my view of life after school and what jobs I want," reflecting the programme's role in expanding their career horizons. Another student shared, "I learnt a lot and had a great time learning," highlighting the engaging and educational nature of the programme. A teacher observed, "I've seen a real spark, far more dedicated than peer group of the same ability, more oomph and dedication and motivation," indicating the programme's influence on students' motivation and dedication.
Academic expertise
Professor Sam Kasule, Natalie Okpara-McFarlane and Jo Bishton have been working with Chatsworth House Trust in an advisory capacity. The guidance contributes to our commitment to participate on advisory panels, which forms part of our strategic partnership with the Devonshire Group.
In March 2024 (until October 2024) Chatsworth opened Picturing Childhood, an exhibition centred on representation, experience and memories of childhood.
The advisory group works with Chatsworth to identify best approaches to re-centre the historical narrative on a specific portrait featuring a child of colour in the exhibition. Looking through the lens of childhood to place this work in the context of empire and colonialism has enabled new interpretation and research.
We have worked together on details from the description in the text panel, (the written interpretation used to describe the art to viewers) to how we look at approaching information - to ensure the work addresses the colonial stories in art and why we need to talk about it.
Chatsworth has commissioned Dr Edward Town, art historian from the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, to research information about the painting. The work is an important contribution to what has picked up momentum globally – there is a global interest to study paintings in the context of empire and colonialism, with a view to add layers of interpretation, rather than leaving stories untold.
The decision to work with an advisory panel addresses sensitivities around thematic issues. For example, child mortality, gender identity, race, colonialism, and empire.
The work focuses on the premise that we were all children once; our experiences of childhood may have been very different; looking through the lens of childhood can unlock new perspectives on heritage.
Forging a Long-Term Partnership
The long-term partnership between the University of Derby and the Devonshire Group, is built on a foundation of shared goals and mutual respect. The strategic partnership agreement aims to sustain and expand collaborative efforts, ensuring ongoing benefits for both institutions. Through continuous engagement and innovative projects, this partnership will continue to enrich the cultural and educational landscape of Derbyshire.
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