About

I am an independent consultant in higher education, specialising in research funding, impact/knowledge exchange, and internationalisation. I gained my experience in a number of universities since 2007, including the University of Liverpool and the University of Sheffield, with significant involvement in three RAE/REF submissions including leading on the development of social science Impact Case Studies in 2014. At Sheffield I played a key role in developing successful proposals for institutional schemes including various Doctoral Training Centres, ESRC-Nuffield Q-Step, and Impact Acceleration account schemes, in addition to multiple responsive grant applications. During my time as Research Strategy Manager (Social Sciences) Sheffield climbed from 26th to 8th place nationally for ESRC funding through an intensive focus on quality rather than quantity of applications. During this period I was also strategic lead for the institution’s approach to the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. In my later years in Sheffield I was Head of International Partnerships, with a specific focus on developing the partnerships and funding proposals for Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund, with Sheffield’s work in Colombia winning an ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize.

I was always quite sceptical about the role of consultants in universities, and found myself becoming one by accident when I was approached by former colleagues to work on a number of research proposals. That proved to be successful, and established how I can add value in a number of areas.