Knowledge Innovation Centre (KIC)
Who are we?
The Knowledge Innovation Centre (KIC) is a niche research and consultancy 
organisation with a mission to transform the ways we learn and work to give the opportunity to every person to reach their full potential. We take a systemic approach to change, focusing on improving education & skills policies and practices globally, via cooperation with governments, international organisations, universities and civil society. We help our partners meet the challenges and discover the opportunities of digitisation, and mainstream innovation with the help of quality management. Our international team of experts, analysts and designers integrate diversity, inclusion and environmental sustainability into everything we do. KIC Europe is part of the Knowledge Innovation Group.
Why we are Participating in the Project
InclusiPHE’s focus on inclusive education and student engagement combines two key areas of expertise and interest of KIC and its staff team for this project.
KIC has been putting great effort in projects that focus on increasing the attractiveness, accessibility and quality of higher and vocational education, by connecting the worlds of policy making, education and work, by stimulating the market offer of placements in SMEs, by empowering Mentors, and by improving apprenticeships management.
In the field of Education for Social Cohesion we have contributed extensively to the areas around inclusion in the last few years, through projects such as: EQUNet, #Multinclude, Moonlite, NEXUS and #IBelong.
Our Role in the Project
At the InclusiPHE project, KIC will collaborate with the partners in the development of all intellectual outputs and will in particular co-lead, together with UCLL, in developing the Online Toolkit and Training Resources for Inclusive Student Engagement(IO4).
In line with all our projects, KIC will furthermore act as knowledge transfer specialist and provide support to the coordinator and partners in areas such as: internal and external communications, development of a dissemination strategy and impact assessment, design of project website and other project branding materials.
Our Team
Nik Heerens
Nik Heerens has been working in the field of higher and vocational education for the last 20 years, mostly related to Quality Assurance, student engagement, social dimension of education and regional development. He’s been director of the European Students’ Union, head of sparqs (student partnerships in quality Scotland) and held senior management positions at overseas development charities SPARK in the Netherlands and Signal in the UK. Nik is currently holding a position as research & development associate at KIC and focuses mainly on projects related to Quality Assurance, work-place learning and social inclusion.
Anthony Camilleri
Anthony F. Camilleri works in areas linked to Quality Assurance, Open Learning and Education Management. He is also secretary of the International Standard Organisation PC288/WG1 which drafted ISO 21001, and acts as a consultant to the European Commission on digital credentials. In his research, he has been investigating the linkages between higher education, innovation, quality and open education. He has worked in the field of capacity building of Professional Higher Education in the Western Balkans for the last decade.
