Profile

I am Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement at the University of York and Director of the Centre for Women’s Enterprise, Leadership, Economy & Diversity.

I am  a key contributor to debates on leadership, enterprise development and diversity in small firms and business. I have led a number of leaderships, enterprise and business support initiatives and has extensively published a number of journal articles, policy reports, books and book chapters in the field. My work has been supported by grants from a full range of research funding bodies; including the Economic and Social Research Councils and Arts Humanities Research councils, government departments, regional and local agencies including Local Enterprise Partnerships and Chambers of Commerce and the private sector. I have also received invitations as Guest Editor from reputable international journals (Human Relations, Management Learning, International Small Business Journal), as well as national and international advisory roles that shape debates and policy in diversity and enterprise.

I have a national and international reputation in a senior research, impact capacity: publishing in peer reviewed journals of a high quality; being an invited professor/scholar in Europe and internationally, presenting at a range of policy and research events, conferences and symposia with policy-makers and community networks to pioneer and promote research, engagement and impact which facilitates widening participation. The research embeds the complementary concerns of practitioners, policy-makers and academics by converting academic insights into effective action, policy initiatives and sustainable impact.

In 2019 I was elected to be the President of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). ISBE is the leading national body for SME research and policy learning. 

I was invited to be one of the lead commissioners on the West Midlands Leadership Commission to lead a new research and policy agenda on leadership diversity for Andy Street Electoral Mayor and the West Midlands combined authority. The final report was commended by the Prime Minister Theresa May and was featured in the Times Higher