It is truly fantastic to see such a wide variety of newly accredited RTTPs and Candidate RTTPs join their respective groups this September. Although we see many more female KE practitioners this quarter (70/30), the demographics include both academic and industry, and backgrounds in Chemistry, Biology, Software, Finance, Product Design, Engineering and Mathematics. The latter being particularly exciting for PraxisAuril as we welcome our first RTTP specialising in Mathematics.
New to RTTP?
RTTP gives international recognition and validates 5 core competencies:
- Strategy and business insight – strategic thinking; market-led, entrepreneurial approach; business and commercial skills.
- Entrepreneurial leadership – active engagement in securing funding; leading negotiations; developing new ventures
- Effective engagement – communication, collaboration and influencing skills
- Legal and technical knowhow – understanding the key legal, technical and domain-related issues required to effectively transfer knowledge
- Governance and project management – managing projects, knowledge and information flow; developing and managing systems and processes for knowledge exchange
The criteria to become RTTP accredited is to have 3+ years relevant role experience, evidence of skills/knowledge to lead KE/TT projects and/or 60 RTTP CE points (or other qualifications).
We are very pleased to introduce to you 6 new PraxisAuril members who achieved RTTP accreditation in the last round of submissions
Mrs Estelle Gaspard RTTP
Previously the Senior Contracts Manager, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)
Estelle is an experienced in-house legal counsel with a demonstrated history of working in the research industry. Estelle is skilled in contracts negotiation and management, technology transfer, intellectual property and business development. Part of her role at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology included negotiating and signing all contracts with LMB's partners worldwide, maximising the opportunities for translation and knowledge transfer, and where possible exploitation. This includes Research Collaboration Agreements, Consortium Agreements (EU projects), incoming and outgoing Material Transfer Agreements, Licence agreements, Data Sharing Agreements, Consultancy Agreements, Confidentiality Agreements and Services/procurement contracts.
Dr Mairi Gibbs RTTP
Head of Operations, Oxford University Innovation Ltd
Dr Mairi Gibbs is Head of Operations at Oxford University Innovation (OUI). A member of OUI’s Strategic Team, she leads OUI’s operational activities across the business, including OUI’s post-deal alliance management function, patent and licence administration team, and information systems. Mairi is responsible for OUI’s process and standard legal documentation. She has particular interests in working with University colleagues to develop the University’s innovation framework to meet current and future needs and in change management and professional development of technology transfer staff. Mairi is a member of Oxford’s Conflicts of Interest Committee and attends Oxford’s Intellectual Property Advisory Group. She has worked at OUI (formerly Isis Innovation) since 2002, and her extensive practical experience in technology transfer includes the formation of spinout companies, licensing, academic outreach, patent portfolio management and prosecution, and management of technology transfer teams. Mairi has a PhD in Chemistry and spent some time in the fine chemicals industry before moving to tech transfer.
Mrs Laurel Jones RTTP
Technology Transfer Manager, Swansea University
Laurel Jones enjoyed an extensive career in Business/Commercial banking for over 20 years, latterly as a Business Development Manager for Bank of Scotland based at Swansea. She joined the University of Swansea in 2009, originally as the Finance & Compliance Manager for the ESF funded LEAD Wales Programme, where she was responsible for managing an £8m budget in line with the stringent EU Procurement guidelines. Taking up a new challenge with a focus on returning to the Commercial sector, Laurel joined AgorIP from the University's Research Engagement & Innovation Services Department, where she was an External Contracts Officer, managing a portfolio of European-funded Major Projects totalling in excess of £50m, facilitating financial claims, providing eligibility guidance and overseeing both internal and external audits. Laurel’s role as a Technology Transfer Manager with AgorIP is to create and shape a portfolio of technologies at varying stages of Technology Readiness Levels, managing project development initiatives and associated budgets in parallel to ensure that the opportunities mature on a commercialisation trajectory.
Dr Joanna Jordan RTTP FIMA
Freelance Mathematics Knowledge Exchange
Joanna Jordan is a freelance mathematics knowledge exchange professional with a strong background in applied mathematics. She specialises in the development and management of research at the academic-industrial interface. Her current clients include the University of Cambridge and the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Previously, as the Manager of the Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry, she led engagement with industry partners, and as Manager of the Bath Institute for Mathematical Innovation she set up a new mathematics knowledge exchange team. She founded and chaired the Horizon 2020 funded Mathematics for Industry Network (MI-NET) and served on the Expert Review Committee for the 2018 Bond Review of Knowledge Exchange in the Mathematical Sciences.
Mr Steven Powell RTTP
Tech Transfer Officer, Swansea University
Steven has worked in Engineering Product Design and Project Management for more than 12 years with Rank Xerox, CMW(Med) Labs, VW/Audi and SMEs. Moving from industry to Higher Education, Steven has worked both in Academic and Project Management roles for 20 years, establishing design under and postgraduate courses including MPhil and PhD supervision as Head of Product Design. Steven's technology knowledge transfer experience covers extensive academic to business engagement and collaboration and has managed a number of University knowledge exchange innovation projects and programs in the UK and Europe. An active member of the Institute of Engineering Designers (IED) professional body, Steve is a panel member for accreditation for University design courses throughout the UK.
Dr Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez RTTP
Director of Industry Partnerships & Commercialisation (FoE), Imperial College London
Rebeca is the Director of Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation for the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial, leading the Faculty’s Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation (IPC) team in maximising the impact of Imperial’s academic discoveries by stimulating, identifying and progressing opportunities to develop research and technologies through collaboration and commercialisation. The IPC team promotes College’s capabilities and secures collaborative research and commercialisation income; supports the assessment of research discoveries, analysis, evaluation, and advancement of those technologies through to market adoption via collaboration with industry, access to translational funds, licensing or spin out and manages industry partnerships and key stakeholder relationships.
Candidate RTTP
Candidate RTTP is a new designation that allows entrants to the profession to signal that they have committed to a pathway of training and development leading to the award of full RTTP status. It indicates to employers that they are serious about their career and aspire to meet the highest standards. They may use the designation ‘Candidate RTTP’ after their name.
It is normally expected that Candidate RTTP designation will be sought approximately 6 months into their post (typically at the halfway point of a probation period) by which time the Candidate and their manager will be able to judge their suitability and commitment to the Pathway.
We are very pleased to introduce to you 2 new PraxisAuril members who were accepted onto the Candidate Pathway RTTP programme
Dr Liisa Chisty Candidate RTTP
Business Development Manager, Ximbio
Liisa holds a 1st class BSc in Molecular Genetics and PhD in Physical Biochemistry completed on the Wellcome Trust Interdisciplinary PhD Programme in Structural, Chemical and Computational Biology at UCL/MRC NIMR. As a Post-doctoral fellow funded by MRCT, she developed a biosensor for commercialisation and was involved in the development and project planning of the biological tool. After leaving the lab, Liisa worked at Imperial Innovations as an IP Management Associate and was involved in prior art searching, patent strength analysis, valuating patent examiners communications, building supporting arguments and making claim chances to patent applications. From Imperial Innovations, Liisa moved to UCLB and worked as an IP Manager, managing the portfolio of UCL which includes over 240 patent families and over £1M spend per year. She also worked in business development negotiating data release deals with pharmaceutical companies and closed two large deals with major pharma companies.
Currently, Liisa works at Ximbio, the reagent arm of Cancer Research UK Commercial Partnerships as a Business Development Manager. Her role is to build new partnerships with university tech transfer offices and biotech companies and bring new tools to their portfolio. Liisa has managed over 20 portfolios of universities/institutes in the UK and abroad (Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Imperial College, QMUL, The Francis Crick Institute, Birmingham and Warwick universities and universities in Germany, Australia and New Zealand) and recruited, negotiated and closed multiple in-licensing agreements with University TTOs and has over 15 on-going negations (incl. WT Sanger Institute, Australasian, Baltic and Scandinavian universities). She also manages some of Ximbio's service supplier relationship and negotiates outgoing licence deals.
Dr Liam McCafferty Candidate RTTP
Innovation Development Manager, University College London
Liam is an experienced Innovation Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the research industry. Skilled in creating partnerships between academia and industry, Liam is an Enterprise professional with a PhD and Masters in Chemistry. Now working at UCL Innovation & Enterprise, Liam works closely with UCL staff, students and business partners to rapidly develop knowledge and ideas into solutions that benefit us all.
The next deadline for RTTP and Candidate RTTP submissions is the 17th October 2019. For more information or questions regarding the application process contact Craig Smith on craig.smith@praxisauril.org.uk
RTTP INTERVIEWS
Also this Autumn, we caught up again with Dr Anji Miller CLP RTTP, Senior Business Manager at LifeArc, as she introduced to us the all-female 2019 LifeArc-AUTM Technology Transfer fellows. Seven very inspiring women who are making the move from the lab to technology transfer.
Interview with Anji Miller from LifeArc
Reflecting competency and experience in Technology Transfer with the RTTP accreditation. We interviewed Dr Anji Miller CLP RTTP, Senior Business Manager at LifeArc, about her route to RTTP, tips and suggestions on how to successfully apply and how Candidate RTTP can help early-career KE practitioners plan their professional development.
Watch the video
Interview with the LifeArc-AUTM fellows
In this interview, we caught up with the seven all-female fellows of the 2019 LifeArc-AUTM Technology Transfer programme as they completed their last day. Why did they move from the lab to Technology Transfer? What did they learn through the programme? And what's does success look like as they continue their professional development journey?
Watch the video