I have generated close to £1m in external income from private multinational organizations, professional bodies, and the European Union to undertake enterprise, entrepreneurship and employability research and teaching projects. These projects have supported my ongoing research and impact and my engagement with stakeholders and communities, both locally and globally. Some of these projects and, where applicable, their outputs are detailed below.

European Projects

Developing the Cross Cultural Skills of Graduates in Response to the Needs of European Enterprise, Erasmus+ (EU), 2019 – 2022

I currently lead this project, which brings together partners from the UK, Belgium, Sweden and Turkey to develop the intercultural competencies of European graduates by enhancing the quality and relevance of their skills to the European working environment. The project is producing three outputs, which will be available open access online for educational institutions and businesses to use:

  • A competencies and skills report,
  • A cross-cultural competencies and skills development toolkit for educators and training managers, containing a range of case studies and learning materials,
  • A cross-cultural competencies and skills development training manual.

More about the project can be found here.

European Business Baccalaureate Diploma, Erasmus+ (EU), 2014 – 2017

I managed and led the University of Worcester’s role in the project, a collaboration between eight institutions in seven EU countries. The project developed a competence-based skills framework to support European business skills and a European diploma for further education students. More about the project can be found here.

British Council & UK Projects

Connect4innovation: UK – Turkey Higher Education Institutional Partnership Fund, British Council, 2022 – 2023

I lead the data analysis and dissemination of the project, which is a joint venture between the University of Worcester and Middle East Technical University. The project supports innovation and knowledge transfer between industry and academia whilst also preparing students to be innovation agents in their future careers. The project will develop case studies from industry supported by course and training materials and bring these into curricula to help learners understand industry challenges and support collaboration between academia and industry to solves these challenges.

Mashrouy Trainer and Mentoring Training, British Council, 2017

I developed and delivered innovative ‘train-the-trainer’ workshops and set up a business mentoring process in Africa in coordination with the British Council. Through these workshops business trainers learned to develop entrepreneurial and business skills as part of the Mashrouy project. The Mashrouy project is a televised business plan competition with an audience of over six million and is sponsored by the local private sector. It seeks to empower youth with skills and opportunities. The workshops I delivered provided grounding to the key enterprise skills required and practical activities to be disseminated by the Mashrouy trainers. These trainers then delivered training regionally to over 800 competition participants. More about this project can be found here.

UK-China Collaborative Development of Enterprise Pedagogy to Support Graduate Employability and Entrepreneurship, British Council, 2016 – 2016

I was the principle project manager/investigator working with a faculty team from the University of Worcester and Beijing Foreign Studies University. The project produced twenty video case studies (10 UK and 10 Chinese) along with associated teaching and training materials. The case studies focused on the innovation and business models developed by UK and Chinese entrepreneurs, as well as the differences in business culture. The case studies will be used in enterprise teaching and training to highlight international entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges.  The teaching material developed as part of the project can be found here, and two papers developed as part of the project can be found here and here.

Enterprising Worcestershire Summer Start-up Boot Camp, European Union Regional Development Fund and Worcestershire County Council, 2016 – 2019

I was involved in the design and development of an entrepreneurial support program that secured funding from the European Union Regional Development Fund and Worcestershire County Council. The funding was used to run three entrepreneurial bootcamps over a three-year period to support the development of entrepreneurial ideas and the launch of new ventures. Those living in Worcestershire were able to access the bootcamps and support programs free of charge. The project supported over 120 people over the course of the three years and led to the launch of successful new ventures across a range of industries. More about the project can be found here.

Our Space Your Place (OSYP), Consortium of Barclays, The Crown Estate & British Council of Shopping Centres, 2014

I developed a consortium with Barclays, The Crown Estate, and British Council of Shopping Centres to provide a unique experiential learning opportunity for students to practice, develop, and enhance their enterprising and entrepreneurial skills. Under OSYP, Students developed business plans, received mentoring, and competed to win £2000 start-up funding and a free retail unit in the Worcester city centre for six weeks to run their business and gain practical entrepreneurial experience. Additional funding, engagement and support from local businesses was generated through crowdfunding. Click here for more information about the project’s crowdfunding. For a video about the about the OYSP experience click here, and one on the competition final, click here. Two papers developed as part of the project can be found here and here.

Teaching Research and Development Grant, Academy of Marketing, 2013 – 2014

I received funding for a project entitled ‘The Impact of Applied Enterprise Practice on Business and Marketing Learning and the Development of Entrepreneurial Tendencies’. The project used active and experiential teaching methods to develop entrepreneurial skills in students. The students were involved in practical and authentic assessment, which involved running a pop-up shop and organising and promoting a student night event, run at the Student Union bar. The findings and materials from the project were disseminated on a regular blog and through a workshop at the Academy of Marketing conference. Two papers developed as part of the project can be found here and here.

International Projects

Developing Social Entrepreneurship through Case Studies, TÜBİTAK Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye, 2003

I ran workshops at TED University in Ankara, which were attended by colleagues from institutions across Türkiye to support the inclusion of more progressive pedagogy within entrepreneurship education. The funding helped to create and develop a network and collaborations to write and share contextually relevant teaching case studies and support colleagues to introduce student centred teaching approaches.

Researching the Effectiveness of Entrepreneurial Education in HEI’S: Measurement, mechanism and contextual factors, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2019 – 2022

I work with colleagues from Nanjing University to provide expertise to the research team. The three-year project which will assess the impact and influence of entrepreneurship education in China and review how it can be developed to improve its effectiveness in the Chinese context.

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on the Entrepreneurial Mindset of Undergraduates in China, China National Social Science Fund for Education, 2017 – 2020

I have worked as a ‘foreign expert’ on this project, which seeks to understand how personal attitudes and skills relate to an entrepreneurial mindset in China and explore how personal skills and attitudes can be developed through Chinese higher education. I have helped develop the project and disseminate the results. A paper coming from this project can be found here.