Role

Fiona is the project manager working on the Catalyst project. Her main role is to provide project support to the principal investigator, catalyst champion, advisory board and wider project team, and monitor progress to plan.

Profile

Fiona first trained and worked as an industrial designer where her designs secured prestigious contracts with Hambros Bank, P&O Cruise Lines, and the Royal train. She went on to become Marketing Manager in the training directorate of Scotland's economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, (Grampian) and later headed up one its flagship training programmes.

She moved to become Design and Innovation adviser for Business Link, where she worked with entrepreneurs and technology start-ups, specialising in new product development, IPR, accessing R&D grants and securing growth capital. Later she became a generalist business adviser, managing business advice to high growth and start-up businesses. Fiona was also co-founder and director of The Business Investment Network; a spin out business angel company that matched high growth businesses seeking growth capital with investors.

Prior to joining the Open University, Fiona was Executive Director of the Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce where she was responsible for managing business advisory services. She secured significant regional and national training contracts to support SMEs and entrepreneurs in business planning, finance and marketing.

Fiona is currently Research Impact Manager at the Open University and is responsible for the impact element of the REF 2014 submission. She joined the University in January 2010 as Executive Project Manager (Research & Enterprise), where she worked on strategic research and enterprise projects led from the office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor.

Contact

Fiona McKerlie

Catalyst Project Manager/Research Impact Manager

The Open University Research School
Charles Pinfold Building
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA

Telephone: +44(0)1908 858415

Email: Fiona.McKerlie@open.ac.uk