I’m the founder of Duddingston Consultancy Ltd (DCL). My career spans senior leadership roles across universities, government and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), combining international research experience with national-level policy delivery.

DCL was established to provide focused, senior and practical support to universities, funders, research organisations and businesses. We are particularly effective where organisations need clear judgement, external perspective and deliverable plans, and our distinctive support spans academic and professional services equally.

As UKRI Director of Talent and Skills, I led the UK’s postgraduate research strategy and designed and delivered the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships; the largest cross-sector talent programme ever created in the UK. I developed major business cases through government spending reviews and worked with universities to implement people-centred strategies that improved research culture, performance and outcomes.

My own 20-year research and innovation career spans disciplines, sectors and countries and has attracted multi-million-pound investment. I have worked closely with all seven UK Research Councils, giving me broad insight across STEM, social sciences, arts and humanities, and interdisciplinary research.

I provided strategic advice to the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, served on the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s top-level Science Board, and contributed directly to UK government strategies on People & Culture, Place and Innovation. I also played a central role in planning the UK’s association to Horizon Europe and in designing strategies for international collaboration.

I’ve held substantive and interim senior executive roles in universities, and advise funders, governments and research organisations on research and innovation strategy, governance and delivery.

I was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship (FRSE) in 2022 and awarded the RSE Senior Public Engagement Medal, citing my “passionate and enormously impactful advocacy for research and education in Scotland, the UK and internationally.”