University’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership Manager wins national award
University of Huddersfield’s Laura Forester-Green (right) receives her award from one of the judging panel Dr Orla Kelly (Photo credit: PraxisAuril KE Awards 2023)
Laura Forester-Green, a Knowledge Transfer Partnership Manager at the University of Huddersfield, has picked up a national award.
She was recognised at the recent KE Awards 2023 taking home the Knowledge Exchange Professional of the Year award.
Laura was applauded for her work in establishing the central office, which currently manages more than 20 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) across the University, and sits within the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange.
She was one of nine winners on the night, which celebrated the people, partnerships and creativity that underpin knowledge exchange activity across the UK.
KTPs are government-funded programmes aimed at helping UK businesses improve competitiveness, production and performance, part-funded through Innovate UK.
The programme involves a collaboration between an organisation, nominated academic mentors from the University and a recent graduate.
Laura said that the KTP programme at Huddersfield was going from strength-to-strength.
“In 2019, I proposed a vision to centralise the University’s support and processes for managing Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and led a thorough consultation and feedback process. Then came the pandemic, but in September 2020 I eventually received the go-ahead to make the dream a reality.
“Inevitably, Covid-19 made it tricky to fully realise the ambitions we had for KTPs at Huddersfield immediately. However, in the last 12 months we have made up for lost time.”
Of the award win she added: “It has been great to get that recognition for all the hard work that has gone into setting up the office, the team and the overall programme itself.
“In December 2022 we had 12 KTPs and we've now doubled the portfolio to 24. So, the last 12 months have been very much a year of growth, and we have also celebrated a series of firsts: our first KTP in Education, our first KTP for Journalism, as well as an African Agriculture KTP.
“A KTP is a great way of working and supporting business growth but also brings great benefits to the University. We are now firmly in the top ten for the number of KTPs held by universities across the country, with a portfolio value of around £5.5 million.”
An example of a successful KTP is the University’s collaboration with Paxman Coolers and the development of its scalp cooling cap to prevent chemotherapy induced hair-loss. A third KTP is approaching completion, looking at applying the cooling technology into further product development to try and help mitigate other side effects of chemotherapy.
To find out more about how the University of Huddersfield can help enhance your business with a Knowledge Transfer Partnership contact ktp@hud.ac.uk