Staff Profile

Introduction

As a Business Development Manager for the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences my role is to work at the interface between academia and industry. I support academic and research staff with the commercialisation and protection of intellectual property, spin-out company formation, the development of non-traditional funding sources and other forms of industry engagement. 

I provide:

• Advice on business development strategy and implementation
• Intellectual property services including patent searches and filing, IP assessments and market reviews
• Support in identifying key company contacts and approaches
• Assistance with setting up commercial research agreements
• Help with setting up confidentiality disclosure agreements
• Assistance with industry-linked funding applications and bids
• Contract development including set up, legal requirements and authorisation

Background

I completed my PhD in molecular biology and post-doctoral research in plant sciences, working on projects with commercial potential. Following my post-doctoral positions, I worked in sales and business development, and later technical writing and marketing at a local biochemical company.