Meet the NCCPE Team
Find out more about the NCCPE team, including their contact details.
Paul Manners, Director
Paul is responsible for the strategic direction of the centre. Originally trained as a secondary English teacher, he worked for twelve years at the Open University as a producer of TV, radio and multimedia before joining the BBC as an executive producer of a number of national public engagement campaigns. He advises a number of national organisations on learning and engagement, including the National Trust and the Science Museum, and attempts to relax through a combination of playing blues guitar, football, reading, sharing music and pottering in the garden.
Email: paul.manners@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0177
Sophie Duncan, Deputy Director
Sophie manages the overall work of the centre including communications, partnerships and NCCPE projects. A physicist by training, Sophie started her career at the Science Museum in London where her work included exhibition development and public programmes. She became a programme manager with Science Year, before joining the BBC, where she managed the creation and delivery of national learning campaigns. Highlights included People's War and Breathing Places, a campaign which led to the creation of over 1000 new community wildlife spaces. When not at work you may find her enjoying her own wildlife garden, or battling with her vegetable patch.
Email: sophie.duncan@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0176
David Owen, Research and Development Manager: Student Volunteering Initiative
David manages the research activity for the Student Volunteering Initiative and works to support the various networks involved. Professionally he has always been interested in student participation, and he previously worked as a Mentoring and Tutoring Development Officer at the University of the West of England, where he developed strategic partnerships with local schools and colleges and oversaw the evaluation of various projects. David is interested in football, and plays for a club called Easton Cowboys - known for arranging matches in diverse settings including Palestine and Chiapas.
Email: david.owen@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0194
Eileen Owens, PA
Eileen helps to keep the cogs of the NCCPE turning! She provides administrative support for Paul and Sophie in the delivery of the work of the centre. Originally Eileen worked in insurance, IT and Print and Design before moving into construction. She has worked in various Higher Education Institutes before coming to the NCCPE. Eileen's interests are wide ranging and varied, but include playing ladies and mixed hockey, umpiring ladies, mixed and mens hockey, swimming, the theatre, general socialising and voluntary work running a youth club.
Email: eileen.owens@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0177
Pip A'Ness, Researcher
Pip is a freelance researcher for the NCCPE involved in the development of content for the website. Her public engagement experience has been gained outside of the HE sector in a broad range of roles: in the NHS, working for the sustainable transport charity Sustrans and in her local community as a parish councillor. As a user representative working on Bristol’s Maternity Service Review she was recently appointed Chair of the newly-resurrected Maternity Services Liaison Committee. She has a research and teaching background in Farm Animal Behaviour, keeps a flock of chickens and a hive of bees.
Email: pip.a'ness@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0165
Heather Squires, Learning and Research Manager
Heather is responsible for guiding the learning and research agenda of the centre. This involves supporting learning and evaluation for the NCCPE, the beacons and more widely, and overseeing NCCPE research to prove the value and impact of public engagement. Originally from Canada, she has been involved in developing FE qualifications and standards for social enterprise, has worked as a trainer/facilitator and manager of diverse multi-stakeholder projects, and has a long history in HE, FE and the Third Sector internationally. She is a huge fan of the great outdoors, and is currently trying her best with bits of ‘The Good Life’.
Email: heather.squires@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0178
Jamie Darwen, Project Manager: Student Volunteering Initiative
Jamie is leading the student volunteering initiative for the NCCPE. Until recently he was the project manager of Warwick Volunteers. He is passionate about the contribution that students and universities can make to their communities and enriching the experience of students through their whole university experience: whether through the formal curriculum, volunteering, clubs and societies or student representation. Jamie is an aficionado of Brazilian music, playing saxophone and collecting a house full of weird and wonderful percussion instruments.
Email: jamie.darwen@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0183
Charlotte West, Project Administrator: Student Volunteering Initiative
Charlotte supports the student volunteering team by arranging regional and national consultation events, acting as a first point of reference for enquiries and helping support research and communications activities. With a background in events, project coordination and administration she previously managed a teaching and learning postgraduate course at Bristol University and has coordinated road shows that toured around secondary schools for a national health promotions charity. She is passionate about volunteering and the impact that it can have on all involved and currently coordinates monthly outings for the elderly in South Bristol. She can also be found once a week shimmying around Bristol University Student Union dance studio learning to belly dance.
Email: charlotte.west@uwe.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 915 0193
Funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust. About our funders