The Academic Adventures Podcast

This special episode was recorded at a live event in Edinburgh on 2 October 2025. We gathered to discuss the role of external experts in commercialising research and how to recruit and support a more diverse pool of experts. 

Elad Katz is the co-founder and chief technology officer for Navigate Precision Biology, a spinout from University of Dundee. Rachel Connolly is an Enterprise Executive at Heriot Watt University specialising in deep tech commercialisation. Chris Jones is Chair and Non-Executive Director for a portfolio of life science companies and an experienced commercial champion.

The panel talks about

• The need for flexibility and matching the right experts with the right project at the right time 
• How the current role descriptors and expectations might be attracting the wrong people
• Addressing the lack of diversity amongst the current pool of external experts
• Why relationships, commitment and drive can be more important than experience

Connect with our guests on LinkedIn - Chris Jones, Elad Katz & Rachel Connolly

 To receive a copy of the report ‘Widening and formalising Executives in Residence (XiR) in Scotland’ by Hamish McAlpine and Britta C Wyatt, get in touch with Orla Kelly

Nicola McMillan leads the High Growth Spinout Programme at Scottish Enterprise. The Programme provides funding and support to help commercialise research which has the potential to make an impact globally. A core part of this programme is matching potential companies with commercial champions.

Sarah and Nicola talk about

• Why commercial champions are the ‘secret sauce’ 
• What makes an excellent commercial champion (and why it might not be what you think)
• The challenges of attracting the right people and why that is currently creating a bottleneck in the spinout process
• How all partners can work together to help fill the commercial champion pipeline  

Connect with Nicola on LinkedIn

Find out about the High Growth Spinout Programme

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn 

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Hamish McAlpine is Director of Policy & Engagement at innovation consultancy Oxentia. Hamish is working on a report, due out in September 2025, which explores how Scottish universities currently work with external experts to support research commercialisation and what could be done better in the future.

Sarah and Hamish talk about

• The inherit tensions between how entrepreneurs think and how universities operate
• How entrepreneurs in residence are recruited, inducted, supported and deployed across universities
• The myriad reasons why the pool of experts lacks diversity
• Why Scotland is well placed to make system-wide improvements

Connect with Hamish on LinkedIn 

Visit Hamish’s page on the Oxentia website

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn 

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Nanik Ramchandani is an entrepreneur with over twenty-years’ experience in the financial services industry all around the world. Now based in Edinburgh, Nanik has worked with Edinburgh Napier University for many years. He was an Entrepreneur in Residence in 2023/24 and helped establish the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Digital Trust. He is now working alongside academic co-founder Zakwan Jaroucheh to spin out cybersecurity company Lasting Asset. 

Sarah and Nanik talk about

• His entrepreneurial journey and why he got involved in research commercialisation
• The unique challenges of launching a university spin-out compared to a typical start-up
• Why spinouts need support to get beyond proof of concept and land their first customer
• How universities might attract and incentivise more commercial champions

 Connect with Nanik on LinkedIn

Find out about Nanik’s new spinout business Lasting Asset

 Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn 

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Mark Logan is an entrepreneurship advocate and advisor. Formerly Mark was the Chief Operating Officer of Skyscanner and Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor to the Scottish Government. He now supports entrepreneurship education at the University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Sarah and Mark talk about

• How a love of building things evolved into a love of building teams  
• Why ‘scale-deep’ businesses need more recognition and support
• Encouraging universities to take economic impact as seriously as teaching and research
• The untapped potential in Scotland's world-class creative arts sector

 Connect with Mark on LinkedIn 

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn 

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Kirsty Thomson is a charity and social enterprise consultant. She has founded several organisations including The Circle and was recently CEO of The Big House. Kirsty is also a Professor of Practice at the University of Dundee and Chair of the university’s Business School advisory committee.

Kirsty and Sarah explore

• Her professional journey from academic to founder and back again
• The support that charity founders need to be financially sustainable
• Why university students rarely learn about third-sector business models
• How professional role models can help bridge the gap between theory and practice

Connect with Kirsty on LinkedIn

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn 

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Polly is Chair of Converge and the Digital Xtra Fund as well as being a board member of Edinburgh Science. This follows a long career in banking, economic development and digital technology. Polly has an honorary doctorate from the University of Abertay and an OBE for services to industry.

Polly and Sarah discuss:

• Why she has always enjoyed working at the leading edge of innovation
• The challenges universities and academics face when commercialising research
• How Converge supports academic entrepreneurs across all of Scotland’s universities
• What Scotland might learn from looking to other countries

 Connect with Polly on LinkedIn or BlueSky

Visit the Converge website 

See the comparison of European universities DeepTech spinout value that Polly mentions.

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Mark Zwinderman is a strategic advisor who specialises in helping high-growth technology companies. He is CEO of SAS Environmental Services (which started as a university spinout), runs the Moonshot Factory programme at the Higgs Centre for Innovation and is a commercial champion at the University of Strathclyde. 

Mark shares his thoughts on:

• Why people and business culture matter more than the technology or product
• Longer-term support and mentoring for founders
• Where Scotland currently excels, but could do even better with bolder and more ambitious strategies 
• How to recruit and better support more commercial champions

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn

Visit the Moonshot Factory website 

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Diana Gormley is the Founder of business consulting firm Danu Solutions Ltd, as well as being an Entrepreneur in Residence at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

Diana explains why she wants to break down barriers and get more people involved in entrepreneurship including:

• The Women in Business course that helped her transition from engineering to running her own company
• Making entrepreneurial concepts and language accessible and relevant 
• How universities can make good use of their Entrepreneurs in Residence
• Why she thinks university staff need more access to support and opportunities

Connect with Diana on LinkedIn or via email

Find out more about Danu Solutions Ltd

Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.

Christopher Leburn is the Technology Exploitation Director for the Photonics & Quantum Accelerator (PQA) programme based at the University of Strathclyde, but working across Scotland’s central belt. He focuses on supporting and mentoring academics to boost research commercialisation.

Christopher shares his vision for filling the spin-out pipeline with exciting opportunities including:

• Why Scotland’s central belt is perfectly placed to translate more photonics research into innovation
• Getting academics to think more like entrepreneurs
• How he champions great ideas and helps to smooth the path to commercialisation
• Joining the dots from research to real jobs through place-based partnerships 

 Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn or X

Visit the Photonics & Quantum Accelerator website and follow the programme on LinkedIn or X @PhotonicsQA

 Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky, working in partnership with Ross Tuffee and The Connect-Ed Network. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. This season of Academic Adventures is supported by the Scottish Funding Council.