01
innovation
Strategy & Structure
The structure of research and innovation services in universities is often debated and frequently changed. While there are no ‘right’ answers, services can be designed and implemented to create happier, more productive teams.
Having worked across several institutions and seen many structures in practice, I offer consultancy on:
- staff perspectives on what works well and what can improve
- building and organising innovation services across central, Faculty or School functions
- supporting collaboration between central and Faculty teams
- aligning with team, Division, School and Faculty strategies
- connecting individual work to organisational objectives, with clear KPIs
- applying a holistic view of knowledge exchange to improve support for research teams
02
knowledge exchange
Training and best practice
New or reorganised teams, and researchers, often want advice on planning research impact, engaging stakeholders and designing collaborative projects—activities known in the UK as Knowledge Exchange.
I provide tailored workshops for groups of 5–50 across all academic disciplines and knowledge exchange teams. These can cover:
- defining desired impacts, stakeholder mapping and logic models
- planning engagement and building relationships over short and long timescales
- designing projects and securing funding, from small pilots to long-term programmes
- evaluating impacts: why, when and how
I also support knowledge exchange teams with:
- creating a holistic view of pathways to impact
- developing tools and templates for researchers
- building support in academic and business communities
- aligning team, Division, School and Faculty strategies
- linking individual work to organisational objectives, with clear KPIs
I have delivered workshops across arts, humanities, sciences and engineering, and at conferences in the UK, Europe and the USA. From 2016–19, I co-directed the first Knowledge Exchange course for Social Science, Humanities and Arts, run by KE UK and ASTP.
03
securing funds
Bid Planning & Writing
Managing and writing funding bids can be a major task, especially as they grow in scale and involve multiple partners. I offer a bid management service to plan and allocate work as directed by project leaders. This can include stakeholder meetings, proposal analysis, governance requirements, theories of change and logic models, risk assessments, finances and more.
I also contribute directly to writing where needed.
Since 2009, I have supported bids from collaborative doctorates to multi-million-pound regional innovation projects. Successes include:
- My World: £30m Strength in Places award from UKRI
- REWIRE: £11m Innovation & Knowledge Centre funded by EPSRC
- securing and managing Impact Acceleration Accounts from UK Research Councils, enabling over 1,000 funded projects at the University of Bristol since 2013
04
ref impact
Delivering a Case Study Portfolio
All universities are preparing for REF2029 and the impact case studies required. Planning the next three years depends on institutional size, subject mix, past performance and available resources.
I can support every stage of this process: establishing a REF Impact team, planning the overall project, reviewing the pipeline, supporting academics and developing individual case studies.
From 2018–20, I trained 100 academics and 50 staff at the University of Bristol in evidence gathering, narrative development and impact assessment for REF2021. I also recruited editors, coordinated evidence collection and delivered 125 case studies.
From 2024–25, I recruited a new REF Impact team at Bristol and led an initial pipeline evaluation. We created templates, an institutional process and School-level plans. Critically, we identified what must be done now versus later—for example, much evidence can be collected in 2027–28, but signposting sources is essential today.
