From Left Behind to Leading Lights:
In 1998, the tech boom roared past, leaving a trail of exclusion. Women, particularly those juggling responsibilities, felt the sting of being left behind, me included! My youngest child had started school, so I started looking for a job – didn’t even get replies to my letters. I had no computer experience (well, I did, just no paper qualifications). Something had to be done. One day, whilst in Town, I bought a Leicester Mercury, containing details of an IT course for women.
So….My academic journey began not in sterile halls, but in the fiery crucible of WAIT (Women's Access to Information Technology). This pioneering program (led by the wonderful John Moulsher) ignited a passion in mature women, like me, to reclaim our place in the digital world. I was a student for a year and then for eight years, I taught computer science to the cohorts of WAIT students that followed.
Innovation
Impact
Profit
Fate's Curveball
Then, the plot thickened. A need to increase student numbers collided with limited resources. I refused to blink. A serendipitous “Dogpile” search (it wasn’t Google in those days). "IT funding for women returners" revealed a cosmic jackpot: Leicester City Council's £130,000 grant to raise IT skills in the deprived wards of Leicester. I crafted my first proposal that sang and landed the entire grant. For three years, I wore two hats: teaching part-time, and leading this impactful community project.
Human Saga, Not Just Bytes
At the first community event I attended, fate again intervened. I, a solo warrior with £130,000 and zero community contacts, met Marlene Suart (MBE), a treasure trove of connections but needing funds. We joined forces, weaving a community tapestry richer than any code. This wasn't your average tech training. Most of our WAIT students had left school with no qualifications and had given up on the opportunity to enter higher education. We didn’t know it – but we were changing lives and family traditions.
Rufus
An extremely cute Robot dog, (Rufus) romped alongside human stories. (Our computing faculty had 10 Aibo robot dogs, which they were programming to play 5-a-side football). Partnering with The LeicestHerday Trust, Marlene and I ran opportunity days across the city, with Rufus charming visitors and sparking education and employment dreams. Included in these days were Sure Start, Fire Service Recruitment, Job Centre Plus, Leicester College, Workers Educational Association and many more.
It was a great project – and thanks to Marlene, my dedication wasn't lost. A prestigious Blackberry Women in Technology award catapulted me from hourly obscurity to academic limelight.
No longer an anonymous part time lecturer – I was viewed as an “entrepreneurial academic” and encouraged to jump ship and take a business facing role as BDM for the Art and Design faculty. Having got used to being outside my comfort zone, I took the leap.
In my new business facing role I met interesting people every day, within and outside the university, enterprising start-ups, fast growing SME’s and large enterprises – working on a diverse range of projects from knitting carbon fibre to sustainable landscaping.
KTP’s became a passion of mine – and KTP’s, in their 50th year are an excellent vehicle to accelerate growth and profitability for businesses – and to keep academic teaching fresh and up to date. KTP’s are also a huge opportunity for graduates – they get to run an innovation project from initiation to completion adding many skills to their CV and/or providing an employment opportunity second to none.
If you are looking for ways to get started with innovation – or you are an academic wanting to work with a business, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me: