Open House Speakers

Paul Younger

Paul L Younger is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement at Newcastle University.  His background is in geology and environmental engineering, and he is particularly renowned for collaborative work with grassroots communities (in the UK and developing countries) to empower them to tackle issues of post-industrial pollution and the provision of clean water.  The research and outreach programme on these themes which Paul established in 1992 continues strongly to this day, and won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education for Newcastle University in 2005.

Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (the top professional honour for engineers in the UK). A gifted communicator, Paul currently serves as Public Orator for the University, recently delivering honorary degree citations for the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP (in Jan 2007), Sir David King (May 2006) and Baroness Onora O’Neill (April 2008), amongst many others. A fluent Spanish speaker, Paul has recently been appointed to the water research panel of the government of Greater Madrid. He has extensive experience in community-based development projects in Latin America, and is currently directing a major EU-funded technology transfer project in that continent.

Paul is Director of three companies, engaged in the groundwater control and geothermal energy sectors, and is author of some 250 items in the international literature. He is the Principal Investigator of Beacon North East, one of six pilot ‘Beacons of Public Engagement’ funded by HEFCE, RCUK and the Wellcome Trust. He also serves on the public engagement panel of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Societal Issues Panel of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Paul is a member of the Board of Live Theatre (Newcastle upon Tyne) and Chair of the Board of the Great North Museum.

Gerry Kelleher

As Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Planning) Professor Gerry Kelleher’s main remit is the strategic development of the University at a time of considerable change for MMU as it consolidates from seven to two campuses. He is also responsible for supporting the work of Deans of Faculty and for overseeing research and third stream initiatives.

Following time as an academic at Warwick and Leeds Universities teaching and researching in artificial intelligence, Professor Kelleher joined MMU from Liverpool John Moores University where he had taken up the post of Professor of Artificial Intelligence in 1993 before progressing to the post of Director of Research. He was appointed Pro-VC in 2002 and, in addition to general management, was responsible for student recruitment and widening participation, student services, library and information services, research, enterprise and development funding.

A graduate of the LSE where he studied economics and then social psychology, he holds a PhD in computer science from Leeds University and has many years experience in industry: as one of the first employees of a start-up software company, as a general software consultant and as a senior manager in a private research institute in Maastricht responsible for the commercial applications of AI.

Well-published in artificial intelligence, he has attracted personal grants of over £2 million and given invited lectures in the USA, Europe and Japan.

Professor Kelleher has sat on many national and regional committees, advising on university research and the knowledge economy. He is a founder and executive member (1997-2004) of the Modern Universities Research Group and currently Chair of the North West Universities Association Strategy Committee and its Enterprise Group.

Steve West

Professor West was educated and trained in London as a Podiatrist and Podiatric Surgeon working in the NHS and private/commercial sector from 1980. He entered academia in 1984 as a lecturer, later senior lecturer, at The London Foot Hospital and Westminster University. In 1990 he took up a post as Associate Dean and Head of Podiatry at Huddersfield University and became Dean of the School of Health and Behavioural Sciences in 1992. In 1995 he moved to UWE Bristol as Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Care. Over the past ten years he has established one of the largest Faculties of Health and Social Care in the UK, and built a vibrant academic teaching and research community which is closely linked to the NHS and local health communities. In 2006 he became Deputy Vice-Chancellor and has had oversight of a major Faculty re-structuring and business re-engineering project and the University’s Strategic Plan. He was appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor in August 2007 to continue to lead and deliver the Strategic Plan and was subsequently appointed Vice-Chancellor in May 2008, at the age of 46. He is a Fellow of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Professor West serves on a number of national education and research committees advising on the future funding and contracting for health-related programmes and research in England. He has continued to develop his research interest in the Diabetic Foot and holds a number of honorary appointments nationally and internationally. He holds a Clinical Consultancy appointment with Scholl. In addition he is a Non Executive Director of the South West Strategic Health Authority, a Member of the Regional Council of The Prince’s Trust, a Trustee of the Bristol Urological Institute, a Patron of the Royal West of England Academy, and a Director of the Trust for Learning. His other interests include: President of the City Academy Bristol; Member, Bristol Initiative; Member, Prosperous and Ambitious Board of the Bristol Partnership, Bristol City Council; Honorary Vice President, The Bristol Oporto Association and Member of The Honourable Company of Gloucestershire.

Kerry Leslie

Kerry has worked for the Research Councils for over ten years and has been the Head of the Research Councils UK Public Engagement with Research since April 2005.  The UK Research Councils, which fund around £2.8 billion of world-leading research annually, have a specific role to play in engagement with the public about research. Both collectively and individually the councils are committed to developing and promoting the exciting research carried out in the UK, but also actively raising public awareness of, and engagement with, research.  By providing national leadership in all areas of public engagement that have research and researchers at their heart, the UK Research Councils hope to:

• Better ensure that all of society has confidence in research processes and outputs.
• Help ensure that young people are increasingly attracted to research-based careers.
• Create a culture where the research sector and researchers themselves value public engagement as an important activity, and where an awareness of social and ethical issues informs research decisions. 

Key RCUK PER initiatives include Researchers in Residence, Continuing Professional Development courses at the Science Learning Centres, the national Public Attitude Survey, the Statement of Expectation on Economic and Societal Impact and the Beacons for Public Engagement.  Kerry's PhD in Astrophysics was gained at University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory

Kathy Sykes

Kathy Sykes is Professor of Sciences and Society at the University of Bristol, and has been chair there since 2002. She is a Member of the Council for Science and Technology (CST), the UK government's top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues. She co-directs and helped to create the Times Cheltenham Festival of Science and NESTA Famelab, a national competition which talent spots, nurtures and trains new people in science communication.

Chair of RCUK Public Engagement in Research Advisory panel, Kathy also chairs the 'Sciencewise' Strategy Group, which oversees a government programme aiming to increase and improve public dialogue on science and technology across Government Departments and Agencies. She is a member of EPSRC's Societal Impacts Panel, aiming to shift the culture in this funding body, to consider societal and ethical issues in all areas of their business.

She is actively involved in the National Co-ordinating Centre for Beacons of Public Engagement. She has presented various BBC2 and Open University TV series, including Alternative Therapies, Rough Science and Ever Wondered about Food. Also a team captain for BBC4s Mindgames. Her PhD is in Physics, and a Trustee of NESTA, and a board member of AtBristol, an interactive science centre in her Bristol home. Kathy was awarded an OBE in 2009 for her contribution to science and society.  

Paul Manners

Paul is director of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement  The Beacons for Public Engagement project involves six HE-based beacons piloting innovative approaches to involving the public and community organisations in their work.  The role of the NCCPE is to coordinate the activity of this group, to provide leadership to the whole HE sector, and to catalyse a culture change in UK higher education.

Paul’s whole career has been education related.  He trained as a secondary English teacher and after teaching for five years, joined the BBC at the Open University as a television producer.  His credits include the long running BBC2 series, ‘Rough Science’.  He then joined the BBC as an executive producer, responsible for a number of broadcast-led public engagement campaigns, including launching BBC Breathing Places, a campaign to inspire a million people to get actively involved with nature, and the BBC’s People’s War project, gathering tens of thousands personal reminiscences about WWII into an online archive. 

He is also chair of the National Trust’s advisory panel on learning, providing advice and guidance to the organisation’s senior management team, board of trustees, and professional staff.