Translating Knowledge and Research into Impact

Dr Richard Siow

Director, Ageing Research at King’s (ARK), King's College London, UK

Richard is the Director of Ageing Research at King’s (ARK), a cross-university consortium of researchers taking a multidisciplinary approach to better understand the mechanisms of ageing, improving health-span and the social and economic impact of ageing. He is also a visiting senior academic in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford. 

Tim Curtis (Co-Chair)

Deputy Director, Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen’s University Belfast, UK

Tim’s research interests are mainly focused on the mechanisms underlying the development of diabetic retinopathy and identification of novel therapeutic strategies for the early stage treatment of this disease. His group is also undertaking research into the basic mechanisms controlling blood flow, vascular permeability and angiogenesis in the eye which provides an important foundation for diabetic retinopathy-related studies. Much of the work in his laboratory is interdisciplinary, spanning through molecular biology, protein biochemistry, electrophysiology, pharmacology, live-cell and in vivo imaging, software development and clinical-based research. His research has been supported by various funding agencies including the BBSRC, MRC, HSC R&D Division, Fight for Sight, Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation and Wellcome Trust. 

In addition to his teaching commitments at undergraduate and postgraduate level, Tim also acts as one of the Deputy Directors for the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine and Academic Lead for the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Advanced Imaging Core Technology Unit (CTU). 

David C. Wraith

Institute Director and Professor of Immunology, University of Birmingham, UK

David Wraith has worked in the field of T cell biology and the role of T lymphocytes in protection from infection and in autoimmunity since 1981. 

Since 1995 his laboratory in Bristol has focused on the mechanism of antigen-specific immunotherapy. His work provided the essential rules governing the design of therapeutic peptides and led to the establishment of a University of Bristol spinout company, Apitope NV. 

The company has designed peptides for treatment of various autoimmune diseases and has successfully completed phase 2 trials in relapsing multiple sclerosis. David’s research laboratory is currently defining the differentiation pathway of antigen induced Treg cells and the mechanism by which these cells suppress disease. The aim of this approach is to improve the efficacy of peptide therapy for treating allergic and autoimmune diseases in humans. 

Jen Fensome

Director of Research and Enterprise Office, Loughborough University, UK

Jen heads up the Research and Enterprise Office, and works closely with University Senior Management to ensure Loughborough maintains and improves its performance and reputation in a challenging and changing funding and policy environment. 

She has a wealth of experience in research development, partnerships and collaborations, knowledge exchange and research leadership skill development gained from a varied career in both HE and Government organisations, working with a range of people including healthcare professionals, businesses, academics and the civil service. 

Tamsin Mann

Head of Policy, Praxis Auril

Tamsin is responsible for leading PraxisAuril's policy and advocacy work in collaboration with expert volunteers, executive team, and sector stakeholders. 

Tamsin is responsible for ensuring that PraxisAuril is part of the debate on issues in knowledge exchange and commercialisation to inform and influence policy, raising the profile of good practice in our membership, and presenting a positive image of the UK's skilled KE professionals. 

Emily Boyce

Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Officer, Babraham Institute, UK

Emily supports the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation team, which seeks to maximise the economic and social impacts arising from the Institute’s publicly-funded research through partnerships and collaborations with local, national and international stakeholders in the commercial bioscience, clinical, charitable and policy sectors. 

Prior to joining the Institute in January 2018 Emily worked at Health Enterprise East as an Innovation Manager, working to commercialising inventions originating from staff in the NHS. Emily has life sciences research background, with a PhD in plant genetics from the University of Cambridge and Rothamsted Research. 

Iain Rowe

Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Robert Gordon University, UK, and Opportunity North East

Dr Rowe is a lecturer at the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. His research skills are rooted in physiology and pharmacology. 

His key research skills include Single ion channel recording, Electrophysiology, Potassium channel expression systems and slice recording systems. 

Iain is involved in Opportunity North East (ONE) a public-private partnership designed to stimulate investment in the North East of Scotland. 

Rosalind Lowe

Head of Policy and Engagement, National Centre for Universities and Business

Rosalind is the Head of Policy and Engagement at the NCUB, having previously served as Director of Policy at the University of Bedfordshire, UK. 

The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) is an independent and not-for-profit membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports university-business collaboration across the UK. 

Matthew Guest

Policy Manager, GuildHE

Matthew leads on policy areas relating to knowledge development and exchange. In particular, he focuses on Industrial Strategy; innovation policy and Brexit. He coordinates the associated networks and works closely with Rachel to support CREST (the Consortium for Research Excellence, Support and Training). 

GuildHE is an officially recognised representative body for UK Higher Education. Its members include universities, university colleges, further education colleges and specialist institutions from both the traditional and private (“not for profit” and “for profit”) sectors. 

Jon Elliott

AstraZeneca

Jon is the Associate Director for UK Science Policy and Relations for AstraZeneca, having previously held roles in BEIS, the Department of Health & Social Care, the Government Office for Science and DEFRA. 

Malcolm Skingle

Academic Liaison Director, GlaxoSmithKline

Malcolm has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 40 years and gained a wide breadth of experience in management of research activities. Part of his former role as a research leader in a Neuropharmacology department involved co-supervising collaborations with academics in the UK, Europe and USA. He has over 60 publications including articles on the interface between industry and academia. 

Malcolm co-ordinates Academic Liaison at GSK, managing staff in the US and UK. His role involves close liaison with several groups outside the Company - for example Government departments, research and funding councils, biotechnology companies and other science-driven organisations. He sits on many external bodies including the HEFCE REF Main Panel A and the BPS Council. He also chairs several groups including the Diamond (Synchrotron) Industrial Advisory Board, the Science Industry Partnership for apprenticeships and the ABPI group working on academic liaison. 

Adrian Day

Independent Consultant

Adrian has spent nearly 20 years working at the interface between academia and the economy. From developing strategy to design of data and funding (HEIF, HE-BCI, KEF) systems and advising the UK Government, EU & OECD amongst others. Adrian worked for the Higher Education Funding Council for England during much of this time and was also seconded to both central government and the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB). In 2016, Adrian set-up his own consultancy and has since been commissioned by Universities across the research spectrum and advised international partners in developing their strategic approach to innovation, enterprise and Knowledge Exchange. Adrian provides specific and useful advice for all stages of interaction between Universities and the wider economy and society; from developing the case for a specific Knowledge Exchange policy to ensuring synergy within advanced innovation systems.

Paul Manners

Associate Professor in Public Engagement at the University of the West of England, UK, and a founding Director of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE).

Paul oversees the NCCPE’s coordination of a range of culture change and capacity building projects.  He has a particular interest in approaches to supporting organisational change, partnership working, impact assessment and innovation in engagement.  He is a member of a number of advisory groups, including the Sciencewise Steering Group.  He is regularly called on to provide expert advice or facilitation by policy makers and funders, and to lead high level strategic conversations within universities, working with senior management teams to help them assess their options and to develop appropriate plans for change.

Paul has a Master’s in Education, and a long track record designing and delivering engagement and culture change projects for organisations including the BBC, where he worked for 18 years.  He trained as a secondary English teacher and after teaching in London for five years, joined the BBC at the Open University as a producer of educational television and multimedia, where he worked for 12 years.  His credits include the long running BBC2 series, ‘Rough Science’.  He then joined BBC Learning as an executive producer, responsible for a number of broadcast-led public engagement campaigns, including the People’s War project, gathering tens of thousands personal reminiscences about WWII into an online archive; and projects with the Natural History Unit, to inspire public involvement with nature.  He is chair of the National Trust’s advisory group on Collections and Interpretation.

Fariba Soetan

Policy Lead - Research and Innovation

Fariba is the Policy Lead for Research and Innovation at The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), having previously served as a Senior Policy Adviser at Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

NCUB is an independent and not-for-profit membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports university-business collaboration across the UK.