MEET
THE TEAM
Dr Olga Kozlova
Director of Innovation and Engagement, University of Oxford
Olga Kozlova is currently Director of Innovation and Engagement at Oxford University. She started her career by founding a biotech company, screening for novel antifungal drugs, following her PhD in Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh. After this, she founded the Converge Challenge, a national programme in Scotland, aimed at students and staff at universities, helping them to develop their entrepreneurial ideas and create profitable companies. This helped over 500 entrepreneurs and developed over 300 companies. Before coming to Oxford, Olga worked at the University of Strathclyde as Director of Innovation and Industry Engagement.
Prof Yvonne Barnett
Anglia Ruskin University
Yvonne is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), with strategic leadership responsibilities for Research and Innovation; the ARU Doctoral School, Student Employability; Public Engagement; Athena Swan; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Prior to joining ARU, Yvonne was Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Nottingham Trent University. Yvonne has active research interests in the causes and mechanisms of cancer and ageing, and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed original research papers. During her career she has secured more than £35 million of funding from a range of regional, national and international bodies to support successful teaching, research and innovation initiatives.
Professor Leon A. Terry
Cranfield University
Prof. Terry is Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation at Cranfield University. He is a leading international figure in agricultural research. His personal scholarship has been driven by a need to preserve and maintain the quality and safety of food by better understanding the physiological, pathological, biochemical and molecular changes which occur after harvest in order to reduce food losses and waste, and thereby help ensure greater food security.
Prof Florin Ioras
Buckinghamshire New University
Florin is the Director of Research and Enterprise at the University. Florin has established an extensive track record of international environmental research achieving recognition for visionary research leadership and innovation management. He has achieved key contributions to over 40 projects including more than 30 large-scale collaborative research programmes. He has also coordinated over 12 large scale international projects funded by a variety of sources including the United Nations Development Programme, World Bank and Horizon 2020. Florin holds the ‘Chair of Conservation and Sustainability’, the designation of ‘Distinguished Professor of Environmental Ecology (Unitbv)’ and is a ‘Doctor Honoris Causa at Transylvania University’. Florin is external subject reviewer at Technological University Dublin. He has served on several European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) frameworks, such as the 'Protected Forest Areas in Europe - Analysis and Harmonisation’. He is currently the national representative for the ‘Indoor living space improvement: Smart Habitat for the Elderly’ programme. Florin has over 155 publications including more than 75 journal articles and 80 publications in proceedings of refereed international conferences, in addition to being co-editor of 5 books and contributor to 9 other books.
Dr Karen Kennedy
University of Cambridge
Karen is Director of the University of Cambridge’s Strategic Partnerships Office. The Office provides expertise and support to the University’s key partnerships and relationships, across disciplines and across the public and private sectors. Prior to joining the University of Cambridge in 2018, she was Director of the National Cancer Research Institute and previously worked in strategic relations and programme management for research funders and scientific institutions, including Genome Canada and the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
Prof Kevin Shakesheff
The Open University
Kevin is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Enterprise and Scholarship at The Open University and Chair of the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction (NC3Rs). As the Open University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research, Enterprise and Scholarship, Kevin has senior responsibility for strategic leadership and implementation of the institutional plans for research, enterprise and scholarship. This includes the University’s submissions to the UK-wide Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its institutional approach to knowledge exchange and expansion of entrepreneurial activities. He is an expert in regenerative medicine and biologic therapies, having directed the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform for Acellular Materials, with over 350 publications and 13 patent families arising from his research.
Professor Andrew Church
University of Bedfordshire
Professor Andrew Church is Pro Vice Chancellor - Research and Innovation at the University of Bedfordshire. Prior to this, he was Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) at the University of Brighton. Andrew is also a Professor of Human Geography, focusing on human-nature relations and he continues to undertake research that is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative. He is currently working on a £1.8m project called Brown Gold funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Global Challenge Research Fund. The project involves social scientists, micro-biologists, water scientists and inclusive artists working together to examine marginality, sanitation and wastewater challenges in five growing towns in Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Nepal.
Prof Tim Vorley
Oxford Brookes University
Tim is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Oxford Brookes Business School. Previously Deputy Dean and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Sheffield, he also served as Deputy Director of the Research Exchange for Social Science, Director of External Business Advancement, and Associate Dean for Engagement, Impact and Innovation. Prior to working at Sheffield, Tim held positions at the Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) and the University of Cambridge. He currently leads the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)/Innovate UK-funded Innovation Caucus and is Co-Director of the ESRC-funded Productivity Insights Network, as well as partnering on several projects under the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
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