Staff Profile

Introduction

I manage the University's Business Support unit, which comprises the Arrow and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) teams. Our aim is to help businesses to identify and access the expertise they need, making it easier to interact with the University.

Arrow is a programme which provides support on research, development and innovation to small and medium-sized enterprises in the region, and is part-funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF). Following the success of the initial Arrow programme, we have now expaned the offer in collaboration with Durham, Northumbria and Sunderland Universities.

KTP is a long-standing national scheme to encourage collaboration between businesses and universities, funded by Innovate UK.

Background

10 years in R&D in the gas industry working on computational maths, stats & machine learning for applications in pipeline inspection, gas distribution and storage.

5 years at Newcastle University in the Industrial Statistics Research Unit (ISRU) working on data driven process improvement.

5 years as co-founder of a Kansei Engineering consultancy, translating customer emotion and psychological impression into product and service design.

After a period as a business improvement consultant I returned to the University to manage the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA), before moving on to manage the Arrow programme and then to my current role as Head of Business Support. 

Qualifications

• BSc, Mathematics and Physics, UCL, 1989
• MSc, Industrial Mathematics, University of Strathclyde, 1991
• PGCE, Secondary Mathematics, Nottingham University, 2001