In this episode of Shift Beyond Conversations, host Rich Jones is joined by Nic Whyley, Senior Philanthropy Manager at the University of Salford, to explore what it means to build solutions without building empires inside one of the UK’s most community-rooted universities.

As higher education faces what Nic calls “an existential moment,” she reflects on how universities can rediscover their civic purpose - shifting from global prestige to local partnership, from growth for its own sake to growth that actually closes gaps.

Together, Rich and Nic unpack:

• how The University of Salford’s history as a Royal Technical Institute still shapes its civic mission today;

• why philanthropy must evolve from a transactional model to one of co-design, humility, and shared power;

• and what it takes for universities to be neighbours, not empires - anchor institutions that listen before they lead.

From peer-led tutoring projects transforming young lives, to curriculum redesigns that level the playing field for students from widening participation backgrounds, Nic paints a vision of education that’s truly inclusive - not as charity, but as justice.

This conversation challenges our definitions of success, reminding us that bigger isn’t always better.

Real impact, as Nic and Rich suggest, comes from being rooted in place, in purpose, and in partnership.

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🔗 About the Series

Shift Beyond Conversations explores how we can build solutions to poverty, inequality, and injustice - without building empires.

🎙 Hosted by Rich Jones, CEO of St Andrew’s Community Network and Angels Connect.

🎧 Produced in partnership with Shift Beyond and Angels Connect - reimagining systems for dignity, justice, and change.

From Crisis of Trust to a Culture of Encounter

In this solo episode of Shift Beyond Conversations, host Rich Jones reflects on themes from a recent Theos Think Tank lecture by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester - a talk that asked one urgent question: how do we rebuild trust - in one another, in public systems, and in the very idea of community itself?

Drawing on Burnham’s call to move from a crisis of trust to a culture of encounter, Rich explores what happens when local agency is hollowed out, when politics becomes distant, and when the systems built to help people end up feeling soulless.

Linking Burnham’s vision to the Shift Beyond philosophy, this episode examines how we might design systems that are more human, relational, and locally rooted, where trust is treated as infrastructure and connection as the starting point, not the outcome.

Rich offers three movements for reflection:

• Naming the Fracture - understanding the loss of trust and shared truth.

• Reimagining the Local - moving from systems at people to systems with people.

• Practising the Shift - ten practical actions to rebuild connection and agency.

Throughout the episode, he unpacks what Burnham’s proposed “Live Well” model means for local systems change, and how Angels Connect - a digital referral and triage platform born from St Andrew’s Community Network - embodies that same shift: technology built not for scale but for trust.

It’s a conversation about humility, shared power, and the courage to rebuild from the bottom up, a reminder that real change begins not with control, but with connection.

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🔗 About the Series

Shift Beyond Conversations explores how we can build solutions to poverty, inequality, and injustice without building empires.

🎙️ Hosted by Rich Jones, CEO of St Andrew’s Community Network and Angels Connect.

🎧 Produced in partnership with Shift Beyond and Angels Connect - reimagining systems for dignity, justice, and change.