Meet the Staff Enterprise team

The Staff Enterprise Team is here to support academic staff through the formation of new University of Edinburgh spinouts and startups. If you aren’t sure who to contact, email the team and we will direct your enquiry to the right person.

Barbara has a background in immunopathology and toxicology with extensive commercialisation experience gained from working with technology incubators and SMEs to major multinationals, including J&J, Boehringer and BASF. Her role in the Staff Enterprise team is to help create life science staff startups and spinouts. This is achieved by working closely with ECRs and PIs to enable them to become investor-ready and achieve their commercialisation ambitions. 

Kelly supports the commercialisation of projects across CSE; she has worked with ambitious academics for over eight years to create successful spinout and startup companies. Kelly has 15 years' experience supporting early-stage companies in Scotland to become investable and sustainable and is passionate about building strong teams. With background expertise in Corporate Finance, Kelly is well-connected to funders, investors, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Rhys supports commercialisation of the University’s life science technologies; he draws on more than 20 years of experience in this space, having worked with many academic entrepreneurs and early-stage companies in Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally.

Supporting staff across CSE, Amy’s experience with the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network and BBSRC gives her the connections, skills and knowledge to provide expert advice to academics looking to translate and commercialise their research. 

Michaela primarily supports staff in CAHSS and CSE. She is an experienced project manager and previously managed a multi-million-pound Creative Cluster supporting data-driven creative startups prior to joining the team. Over the last 10 years of her career, she has built her network in the Scottish entrepreneurial ecosystem, so she is well placed to point you in the right direction. 

Julian has more than 14 years’ experience working in Molecular Neuroscience, RNA biology and Bioinformatics. His academic career was conducted at European/UK research hubs including the likes of ETH Zurich, Max-Planck, UCL and the UKDRI. During his PostDoc at the Francis-Crick-Institute, Julian co-founded a spinout automating bio-magnetic separation workflows. His expertise in biomolecular sciences, paired with hands-on experience in the startup industry, allows Julian to support budding entrepreneurs at the University of Edinburgh with company formation.