Suzie Leighton is Co-Founder and Director of The Culture Capital Exchange (TCCE), and the National Centre for Arts and Culture Exchange (NCACE).  Between 2012 – 2016 she was Head of Knowledge Exchange for the AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hub Creativeworks London.  Her previous roles include a 5 year term at Arts Council England and a secondment to the DCMS Select Committee.   Outside of her “day job” Suzie is currently an Independent Governor of Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Chair of the Board of Directors of Jasmin Vardimon Company, an international dance theatre company and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, and a Director of Duckie.

Ellen Bamford is the Head of Data and Evidence for Knowledge Exchange at Research England, leading on data and evidence to support knowledge exchange policy including the development of the KEF and its metrics, the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) allocations, and leading on analysis and use of the HE-BCI survey data.

Ellen previously worked at EPSRC supporting the Impact agenda with responsibility for developing their Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding and EPSRC’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) portfolio.

I lead on our policy work on innovation, knowledge exchange, research commercialisation, local growth and enterprise by researching evidence, developing proposals, engaging with members and lobbying officials. In my time at UUK I have led on a range of policy areas including management, leadership and governance, better regulation, teaching and learning, skills and apprenticeships and economic and social recovery.

I worked in a university for seven years on quality assurance and teaching and learning and in GuildHE for five years working on human resource, leadership and management and quality issues. I studied combined social sciences at university.

Tamsin is Head of Policy & Governance at PraxisAuril, the UK’s national association for Knowledge Exchange professionals. Her work with members and sector stakeholders explores the changing expectations of knowledge exchange to understand how PraxisAuril can support the needs of the membership now and in the future and inform KE policy and funding to do the same.  She represents PrA as a speaker at sector events and initiatives, notably contributing to the development and implementation of the UK’s KE Concordat.

Tamsin joined PrA after a decade at the University of Cambridge, working with major R&D funders and industry partners in a variety of KE projects. She spearheaded KE activities with arts, humanities and social sciences disciplines, including a project with the UK’s Arts & Humanities funding council (AHRC) to understand motivations, incentives and impact from knowledge exchange in those areas and a project managing a large-scale collaborative initiative in digital humanities. She has a background in languages, marketing and policy engagement.

Tomas Coates Ulrichsen is the Director of the Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI) at the University of Cambridge and National Advisor to Research England on knowledge exchange metrics. He set up UCI in 2020 with an ambition to create much needed capacity in the UK to improve the data, evidence, and insights available aimed at strengthening university approaches for commercialising research and driving innovation in the economy. In 2023, UCI was commissioned by Research England to support their development of a new national capability for KE metrics. Over the past decade Tomas’s work has been instrumental in informing UK policies and funding programmes for knowledge exchange. In 2018 he developed the original clusters of English universities that underpin the Knowledge Exchange Framework. Tomas serves on several advisory groups relating to knowledge exchange and commercialisation. He began his career at a leading UK economic development consultancy, where he directed and managed a range of strategic development and evaluation projects for public policy clients in the areas of knowledge exchange, innovation and regional economic development. He has an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge and an MEng in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London.

Dr Michelle Phillips Head of Enterprise (Academic) and a Senior Lecturer in Music Psychology at the RNCM. Her research interests include audience response to live and recorded music, neurological response to music listening, music and time, perception of contemporary music, entrepreneurship, and music and Parkinson’s. Michelle’s research on ‘what makes live music special?’ was recently featured in UK Research and Innovation’s series ‘101 jobs that change the world’. Recent publications include a co-edited volume entitled ‘Music and Time: Psychology, Philosophy, Practice’. Michelle completed her PhD (funded by a Domestic Research Studentship awarded by the University of Cambridge) under the supervision of Professor Ian Cross, Centre for Music and Science, University of Cambridge.

Jorge works in  the Policy and Engagement Team, conducting independent research in areas related to research, innovation and the labour market as well as working collaboratively with researchers and analysts at top UK universities and in the private sector.

Jorge is also an associate faculty at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU, University of Sussex) and has also held positions as a lecturer and research fellow and has carried out commissioned research for the Interamerican Development Bank, Research England, and Ministries in Latin America and Spain. He holds a PhD, MSc and BSc in Economics.

Dana is the Policy Manager (Places, Knowledge Exchange) at GuildHE. She is responsible for evidencing and developing GuildHE’s policy work for knowledge exchange, place-making and innovation. She supports members to develop their knowledge exchange activities and contribute to their regions, towns and cities. She also supports the skills and international policy activities and GuildHE.

Dana previously worked for Universities UK working on research culture and practice. She has previously worked as a Knowledge Exchange professional at the University of the Arts, London.

Olivia Keenan is the Knowledge Exchange Manager at King’s College London, overseeing and aligning Knowledge Exchange activity across the university and leading on the KE statutory returns. This includes improving data collection processes across the college to raise the visibility and profile of the range of externally facing activity King’s leads and participates in. Olivia is passionate about the impact of research on communities and society, and focuses on translating research into tangible outputs. Olivia joined King’s in 2023, having previously held Public Engagement positions across the higher education and charity sectors. She holds panel and board positions at the UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Institute of Physics, and the Royal Astronomical Society.

BSc (Hons), MBA, FHEA, PGDipM

As Head of Knowledge Exchange at the RCA, Tatiana leads the RCA’s knowledge exchange strategy, cross-disciplinary collaborations with industry and develops institutional policies to support external engagement. Tatiana has extensive experience in research commercialisation and university-industry partnership gained from working at Imperial College London, London Business School, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Kaplan Professional, and running her own innovation management consultancy. She is a visiting lecturer at Imperial College London, holds Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and is a Board member of the Triple Helix Association.

Tatiana’s own research focuses on open innovation, open business models, and skills for innovation. She frequently speaks at international conferences on academic enterprise and open innovation.

Michael Parker is Director of Knowledge Exchange within the Research and Innovation Services at Northumbria University where he is responsible for the University’s Knowledge Exchange Strategy, ambitions, and operations. Michael leads the University’s KE Teams, including: the rapidly growing and ambitious technology transfer office, overseeing a team of specialist technology transfer professionals; the business development team responsible for consultancy, CPD, contract research and facilities and equipment access; the policy engagement and public and community engagement teams; knowledge transfer partnerships; regional economic development; and the research impact team.

Michael was previously Assistant Director, Strategic Partnerships at Advance HE where he led on strategic projects that allowed the organisation to transition to post-grant sustainability. He was the co-author of the Framework for Embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals into Strategy and Research, and also worked strategically with Higher Education providers in the UK and the US. Michael has over 13 years’ experience in Higher Education, working with over 80 universities to support their strategic enhancement activities ranging from commercialisation activity, intellectual property, research and KE strategy development, professional development support and training, and curriculum design and innovation. He has an undergraduate degree in History & Politics, postgraduate degrees in Law and Education Research, and is active in the research of peer-review and feedback in Higher Education and is trained in IP management and commercialisation.

Professor Steve Draper is Academic Dean (Research and Knowledge Exchange) at Hartpury University in Gloucestershire. Hartpury is a young university (since 2018) but has a strong and particular knowledge exchange history through its industry, applied and specialist curriculum offer. As with many smaller universities Steve wears many hats and juggles the competing demands of TEF, REF and KEF in an increasingly challenging higher education environment.

Dr Julie Northam is Head of Research at AECC University College, a small and specialist health sciences university that entered the KEF for the first time in 2023. Julie provides strategic leadership and operational management for research across the university with a view to strengthening the research culture and maximising research excellence and impact. Prior to joining AECC University College, Julie was head of the central research and knowledge exchange office at Bournemouth University for 12 years and was involved in the KEF from the first exercise.

Suzie Leighton is Co-Founder and Director of The Culture Capital Exchange (TCCE), and the National Centre for Arts and Culture Exchange (NCACE).  Between 2012 – 2016 she was Head of Knowledge Exchange for the AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hub Creativeworks London.  Her previous roles include a 5 year term at Arts Council England and a secondment to the DCMS Select Committee.   Outside of her “day job” Suzie is currently an Independent Governor of Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Chair of the Board of Directors of Jasmin Vardimon Company, an international dance theatre company and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, and a Director of Duckie.