Research and innovation conference 2024

Jon Baldwin has held various roles senior roles at Universities in the UK and in Australia; he was Deputy Vice Chancellor for Murdoch University in Perth and was Registrar/Secretary at both the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and at the University of Warwick.

Rebecca became Director of REF 2029 in September 2023. Prior to this she was Director of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) India, leading the representative office for the UK’s major research and innovation funder within the British High Commission in New Delhi.

Rebecca has worked with research councils and UKRI since 2005, primarily for the Economic and Social Research Council, covering roles in research funding, big data, postgraduate training, governance and evaluation. As Head of Knowledge Exchange, she led the transformation of ESRC’s approach to knowledge exchange and impact, successfully embedding it across the whole of the ESRC's remit. As Head of Data & Infrastructure Rebecca was responsible for the ESRC's longstanding, world class, portfolio of longitudinal studies and the shape and sustainability of that multi-million-pound portfolio into the future.

Jo Fox is the Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Public Engagement) and Dean, School of Advanced Study, University of London. The School of Advanced Study is the UK’s national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities. It has eight specialist research institutes, four internationally-recognised research libraries, and organises the UK’s only Festival of Humanities research, Being Human. Her portfolio includes the University of London’s Senate House Library, a world-leading research library with over 2 million items, and the University of London in Paris, with unique programmes in French Studies and International Politics.

Prior to her current role, Jo was the first female Director of the Institute of Historical Research, first female Professor of Modern History and first female Head of Department at Durham University, where she began her academic career in 1999.  She is an historian of propaganda, mis-and dis-information and psychological warfare. She has previously served as the Honorary Communications Director of the Royal Historical Society and early research panel Chair at the Wellcome Trust. She is a National Teaching Fellow (2007), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Manufactures and the Arts (FRSA). She currently serves on the Governing Board at the Royal Academy of Music.

Alice Frost is the Director of Knowledge Exchange Policy at Research England. (RE - one of the nine Councils to the new UK public funding agency – UK Research and Innovation). She is responsible for knowledge exchange policy and funding at RE, and a lead expert at UKRI on commercialization. Her background is in national policy for research, universities, innovation and economic development. Over many years, Alice has advised countries across Europe and Asia on the UK model of a third stream of funding for knowledge exchange.

Professor Luke Georghiou is the University’s Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, providing strategic leadership and operational management across the full-range of University functions. 

From 2010 to 2017 as Vice-President for Research and Innovation, Luke was responsible for the University’s research strategy and its implementation and doctoral training, prior to this he held the post of Deputy Dean and Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Humanities.  

He continues in his current role to be responsible for business engagement and commercialisation activities. He is active in research and policy advice to governments and business with work on innovation management, public procurement and innovation and foresight.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Manchester Science Partnerships, the UK’s largest science park company, the Northern Gritstone investment company and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

Rob returned to the North East fifteen years ago, to work in economic development.  Currently Interim Lead of the Economic Growth Directorate at the North East Combined Authority, he is responsible for their investment strategy and the delivery of a range of programmes – including regeneration, sector development and funding programmes – having previously developed the Devolution Deal for the Authority.  Previously, Rob was Head of Economic Development at Newcastle City Council, working on projects including the NewcastleGateshead Accelerated Development Zone.  Before that, he worked for a number of years at the Bank of England on monetary policy and financial stability issues.

Peter’s distinguished career began at the UK Research Councils, latterly working as a Programme Manager at the EPSRC working collaboratively to commission research with external research partners. 

In 2008 Peter was appointed as Director of Research Support Services at the University of Warwick. From 2014, Peter spent ten years at the University of Cambridge as the Head of Research Office, whose primary role was to support the work of the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, and the Research Operations Office. In both University roles he was involved in supporting the management and administration of the full life cycle of research.

Peter retired from Cambridge in 2023 and combines his work as a wine merchant with regular contributions at research administration professional development training events and conferences and has a particular interest in the evaluation of research excellence and research governance.

Lesley joined Universities Scotland as Deputy Director Policy in June 2024. She has overall responsibility for the development of US’ policy positions, including in research, knowledge exchange, innovation, and internationalisation.

Lesley’s background is primarily in economic development, across the civil service, Scottish Enterprise, and Sheffield City Region. She has co-authored a regional Growth Deal, and negotiated several more on behalf of government. Between 2020 and 2022 she ran the Scottish Government’s £1.9 billion City Region and Growth Deal programme.

Professor Jones became the Vice-Chancellor & President of Brunel University of London in January 2022. His leadership at Brunel has been marked by a focus on interdisciplinary research, technological innovation, and enhancing the university's role as an engine of social mobility and economic growth in west London and beyond.

Professor Jones is an interdisciplinary social scientist with a background as an economic geographer. His research focuses on the global economy, including international firms, governing organisations, the activities of key individuals, and most recently the green economy.

He has held several successful leadership roles during his career including serving on the REF2014 and REF2021 panels for UK Research and Innovation and policy work for Research England on university commercialization and spin-outs.. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. He is also a trustee of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), a former trustee of the Academy of Social Sciences and on the Board of London Higher. He is the Policy Lead for Research and Innovation on the UUK Board.

‘One of the things I love most about my job is the transformative impact that Brunel has on our wonderful and enormously diverse student body.’

Dr Molly Morgan Jones is the Director of Policy at The British Academy. Molly provides strategic leadership for the Academy’s policy work, on topics ranging from research, innovation and skills policy in the humanities and social sciences, to policy programmes on digital societies, sustainability, governance and trust, social and cultural infrastructure and global (dis)order. Prior to joining the Academy, Molly worked at RAND Europe where she specialised in research and innovation policy. Molly has also worked for the UK and US governments. She has an interdisciplinary background, with a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy and a BA in Biology.

Kevin is Professor of Computing Science and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and his research is helping to transform the way global shipping fleets manage cyber security.

As Deputy Director of Financial Sustainability and Impact in UK Research and Innovation (a UK non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to fund and support research and innovation) I oversee a programme of work to assess the financial sustainability of the UK’s research and innovation system in order to inform decisions to better account for financial sustainability, demonstrate our evidence and expertise, and engage our communities and partners. I also oversee our work to maximise UKRI’s strategic capability to evidence and showcase the impacts of our work and the activities we fund.

Prior to this role I led on ESRC's (the Economic and Social Research Council: UKRI) strategic knowledge exchange and innovation activities to ensure that investments were visible to potential users, as well as created opportunities for researchers to undertake impact-led activities and create a system to ensure these can be sustainable through commercialisation opportunities. I have also worked in our UKRI office in India helping to establish joint partnership research and innovation activities.

Jonathan Knight is an optical physicist who has spent his life doing research of commercial value. He has previously co-founded a University spin-out company to exploit his research. He is formerly Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Bath (2015-2021) where he is now Vice-President (Enterprise).

Karen is a chartered accountant and has held strategic finance roles across higher education and a number of global third sector organisations, both in London and overseas.

Karen is currently Chief Financial Officer at Queen Mary University of London, with responsibility for Finance, Strategic Planning and the Strategy Delivery Office.  Karen is also Vice Chair for the British University Finance Directors Group and a non-executive member of UKRI’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.

Prior to Queen Mary Karen was Finance Director at the University of London.  Before the move into higher education in 2015, Karen spent 10 years in the international development sector, with her earlier career in the private sector.

After an initial career in publishing and media, Shahid Omer joined the civil service through the Civil Service Fast Stream and went on to have roles in Private Office, business finance (helping establish the British Business Bank), Industrial Strategy and as Senior Policy Adviser to Nick Clegg (when he was the Deputy Prime Minister during the Coalition Government). Subsequently, while at DfE, he led on Widening Participation policy in higher education, and International Higher Education (being responsible for the International Education Strategy; International Students; and Erasmus and Turing amongst other responsibilities). Most recently, he developed the Government’s Innovation Strategy while at BEIS and helped establish the Dept for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as the Transition Director following the recent Machinery of Government change. He joined Universities UK on secondment from DSIT in June 2023.

Jane leads Newcastle University’s Engagement & Place Strategy, focussing on building partnerships to enhance its contribution socially, economically and culturally. Previously, Jane was Durham University’s Chief Operating Officer with strategic oversight of operations and external engagement.  

Before taking up her position at Durham, Jane was Chief Executive of Gateshead Council. Jane also played a leading role in the establishment of the North East Combined Authority and the Commission on Health and Social Care Integration.

Jane has also held leadership positions in the cultural sector, including Director of External Relations at Arts Council England.

Jane holds an MBA and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in English Literature. She is also a Fellow of the RSA, chairs the North East Raising Aspiration Partnership, and the North East Cultural Partnership, and holds non-executive positions with the national Centre for Cities, and the Centre for Life in Newcastle.

Dr Zoetanya Sujon is a Reader in Communications and Social Technologies and Programme Director in Communications and Media at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Originally trained as a sociologist and anthropologist, Zoetanya draws from an interdisciplinary lens and her research broadly addresses the relationships between social technologies and everyday life. Zoetanya was the Project Lead for the AHRC funded project: Transforming the Gap: Inclusive Digital Arts and Humanities Research Skills (DAReS)' with Wikimedia UK and CRAC/Vitae as partners, and under-represented researchers as co-designers. Zoetanya is also the UK's Key Regional Leader of the TikTok Research Cultures Network, based in Curtin University. In addition, Zoetanya is the co-director of the Digital Cultures and Economies Research Hub, based in the Communications and Media programme which aims to consolidate current research across LCC in this area as well as build digital research networks externally and across UAL. Zoetanya is the author of 'The Social Media Age' (Sage 2021) and has published work in leading journals, such as Social Media + Society, New Media and Society, and International Journal of Communication. 

Professor Alison Truelove is Director of the Centre for Innovation in Business Education at the University of Exeter, leading on staff development and teaching enhancement. Prior to this, she held teaching and research positions at the Universities of London and Cambridge, and has taught and published on historical sociolinguistics, medieval culture and literature, and the role of digital technologies in education and future workplaces.

Alison is also PI/Director of the UKRI-funded Developing Business-Aware Academics research project, which is identifying the enablers of effective collaboration between universities, industry, non-profits and policy organisations. Through evidence-led, experimental approaches to training and networking, the project seeks to equip doctoral and early-career researchers with the skills and mindsets to confidently apply their expertise beyond academia.

Alongside this project, Alison is Chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools’ Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Committee, an External Peer at King’s College London, a member of the Science Industry Partnership Board, a Certified Business and Management Educator (CMBE), and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Lord Vallance KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Science) on 5 July 2024.

He was previously Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) from April 2018 to April 2023. He was also National Technology Adviser (NTA) and Head of the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) Profession.

Lord Vallance KCB FRS FMedSci FRCP HonFREng was President, R&D at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from 2012 until 2017. Prior to this, he was Senior Vice President, Medicines Discovery and Development. He joined the company in May 2006 as Head of Drug Discovery. He was a member of the GSK Board and the Corporate Executive Team. During his period as head of R&D, many new medicines were approved for use worldwide, for diseases ranging from cancer and rare diseases in children, to asthma and HIV.

Prior to joining GSK, he was a clinical academic, Professor of Medicine and led the Division of Medicine at UCL. He has many years’ experience of basic science and clinical research, and was a consultant physician in the NHS. His research spanned from work on medicinal chemistry and structural biology, through to cellular work, studies in humans and use of large electronic health record databases.

He was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1999 and to the Royal Society in 2017. He was on the Board of the UK Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (OSCHR) from 2009 to 2016. He is an Honorary Fellow at UCL and holds honorary degrees from Imperial College London, Glasgow University, University of York and St George’s, University of London. He was a non-executive director and board member for UK Biobank and a non-executive board member for Genome Research Limited but stepped down in taking up the GCSA role.

Professor Robert Van de Noort is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, a position he has held since 2018. In this capacity, Robert is the de facto Chief Executive Officer and has general responsibility to the University governing body – the Council – for maintaining and promoting the effectiveness, efficiency and good order of the University.

An archaeologist specialised in coastal and terrestrial wetlands, Robert has undertaken research in many parts of the worlds, and has a keen interest in how climate and environmental change impact on coastal communities.

Naomi is Director of Innovation and Technology at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). She leads their policy work to help make the UK to be the best place in the world for businesses to invest in and benefit from innovation and technology, and to grow an innovative business.

She began her career in financial services before moving into policy, working on policy areas from R&D and entrepreneurship to skills, immigration, and diversity.

David has been with Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, since 2014. As Director for Innovation Ecosystem he is responsible for 4 key areas of Innovate UK impact. He is the programme director for the £1.6bn core investment in Catapults and UK Agri-Tech Centre, and his team leads for Innovate UK on innovation talent and skills, start-up and spin-out programmes, and responsive grant funding programmes, such as Smart and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

He is also a non-executive director of Innovate UK Business Connect. In previous roles, he was responsible for Innovate UK’s strategy on local engagement and public sector innovation.

Before joining Innovate UK, David had 20 years’ experience in defence research and development (R&D). He set the strategy for the MOD’s materials research programme, and was Technical Director for the MOD’s Research Acquisition Organisation. During that time, he led development of the Defence Technology Strategy, established the MOD’s first small business innovation programme, and represented the UK in several large multinational defence R&D collaborations. Most recently, he spent several years on secondment to the US Department of Defense, working on strategy and coordination across $25bn R&D programmes in the US Services and DARPA, and on 5-Eyes defence R&D collaboration.

Dr Stuart Wilkinson is the CEO of Knowledge Exchange UK (previously called PraxisAuril), a world-leading professional association for Knowledge Exchange practitioners. He oversees the organisation's strategic direction and drives initiatives to empower professionals in the sector to enable collaboration between universities, businesses and other organisations. 

Before his role leading Knowledge Exchange UK, Stuart was the Assistant Director of Innovation and Engagement at the University of Oxford and an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellow of Reuben College. He has held several knowledge exchange roles in technology transfer, regional innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact through which he has gained multifaceted insights into the innovation ecosystem.

Simon Willmoth is an is an art historian, writer and curator with many years’ experience as an academic and director of research in art schools and universities across the UK. He is a Research Professor at Norwich University of the Arts, where he leads creative health projects with external organisations, including the Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Hospital Rooms, Collusion (Cambridge), the Restoration Trust and the Broads Authority. He is a founding partner of the Norfolk and Waveney Arts and Health Collaborative.

Martyn has worked within interdisciplinary learning and teaching and research contexts working across Design, the Arts, Humanities, Natural and social Sciences. He is currently Deputy Dean of Cardiff School of Art & Design where he leads an innovative interdisciplinary Future Generations curriculum. 

His current practice and research explore what the role of Art & Design may be in post-industrial 21st Century context. His thinking brings together Transition Design, inter-species ethnography, anthropology, dynamic systems theory and ecological philosophy to model potential ecological futures, practices and ways of being. 

Martyn has co-developed Wales' first Interdisciplinary Sustainable Futures Degree programme with Black Mountains College and continues to champion the role of the arts, humanities and design in future thinking.

He is co-convener of the Design Futuring research community within Cardiff School of Art & Design. 

Dr Rachel Woolley has over two decades of experience in research and innovation management, partnerships, and policy within higher education and the public sector. As Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Salford, she drives initiatives across research quality, enterprise, and innovation strategy. Rachel holds a PhD in Polymer Chemistry and has a proven track record in developing collaborative activities with industry and government, championing research culture, and leading transformative initiatives that deliver measurable impact.