Our External Advisory Board

Maria is the Director of the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory at the Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (LNBIO-CNPEM), one of South America's most advanced Research Infrastructures. Before that, Maria spent 12 years at the University of Nottingham, her last post being Head of Researcher Development, and Chair of the University’s Race Equity Network. Maria is an Affiliate Fellow of the University of Cambridge's Robinson College, Elected Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and devoted to the implementation of Research Culture interventions for high performance in Science.

Jerry was Dean of the Graduate School whilst at the University of Nottingham and had responsibility for research students across all the university campuses including those in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and in Ningbo (China). On moving to the University of Plymouth as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise his portfolio included Doctoral Education and the delivery of the European Charter for Researchers. He is now the Chair of the Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) People and Talent Strategy Advisory Board.

Professor David Bogle retired in 2024 as Pro-Vice-Provost of the Doctoral School and Early Career Researchers at University College London (UCL). He is chair of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) Doctoral Studies Policy Group and has advised many ministries, funders and major Universities across Europe on doctoral education policy and practice. He was co-author of ‘Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education’ published in 2022 arising from a conference in Hannover is 2018. He has supervised over 50 PhD students through to completion. He is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCL and was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers for 2022-23.

James is a senior partner at consultancy firm Counterculture where he leads their higher education work. As well as being associate editor for research and innovation at Wonkhe, James' higher education work has spanned R&D strategies, portfolio reviews, TNE partnerships, governance reviews, security communications, and much else besides. He is the former Head of Sustainability, Policy, and Civic Engagement, at the University of Liverpool where he was responsible for their sustainability strategy, advising on issues across higher education, and leading the University’s civic engagement work.

Previously, James worked at NUS where he oversaw their governance reform, he has published a book on universities and their communities, and holds a Masters of Public Administration where he specialised in the economic resilience of the public sector after Covid, for which he was awarded a Distinction.

Ojas is a Scientific Policy Officer at the Barcelonabeta Brain Research Center (BBRC, Spain) with a background in molecular biology and extensive expertise in research policy and governance. His work spans designing and implementing institutional policies on supervision, research assessment, open science, and equity and inclusion. Dr. Deshpande has led initiatives at European research institutions, contributing to strategy development, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building. With a strong commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration, he bridges the gap between scientific research and policy, promoting sustainable and evidence-based practices in academia and positive impact on research culture.

Amira is an Associate Professor in Sustainable Architecture at the Lincoln School of Architecture and the Built Environment. Amira is a chartered registered architect in Egypt since 1998 and a member of the AEA (Architects Egyptian Association) and an affiliate member of the RIBA. She is also the Vice Chair of the IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association) England. Her expertise lies within the Sustainable Built Environment with over two decades of teaching and learning experience and Sustainable Architecture, Energy and LCA consultancy both nationally and internationally. In the last two decades she has contributed to the generation and flow of new ideas, hypothesis, tools, and knowledge through interdisciplinary research projects in collaboration with the industry funded by various funding bodies including: Research Councils; Technology Strategy Board (TSB); Innovate UK; Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP); UKRI; British Council and Newton Musharafa funding. Amira’s extensive experience in doctoral education spans supervision of 12 PhD students to successful completion, external examination (over 26 examination nationally and internationally), and leadership roles, demonstrating her influence on policy, practice, and pedagogy. See detailed list of Amira's publications and research projects and Amira's Google Scholar profile.

Susan’s research focuses on research education and development, research collaboration, and employability. Adopting qualitative approaches including narrative inquiry her research has benefited from years spent working in higher education and building strong national and global networks. Based in Australia she has managed a Research Students Centre and been the Academic Coordinator of Supervisor Development. She is currently writing a book for Emerald Publishing based on her PhD thesis exploring Early Career Researcher pathways. She was leading editor on the award-winning open access ebook Confident Supervisors: Creating Independent Researchers - Volume 2 of Confident Supervisors is due out by 2026. Susan is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE.

Ewan Nicholas is Senior Strategy Advisor at UK Research and Innovation. He joined the research councils in 2017, before which his career has spanned Parliament and financial regulation where he led the Financial Conduct Authority's public affairs on payday lending and debt collection. More recently, working closely with colleagues from right across UKRI and the higher education sector, Ewan leads a number of key initiatives including uplifts to the UKRI minimum stipend and UKRI’s contribution to the New Deal for Postgraduate Research.

Dr Sally Osei-Appiah is currently the EDI Learning and Development Manager at the University of Leeds, responsible for developing and implementing an institutional, strategic EDI Learning and Development Plan, including behaviour change interventions and EDI-related leadership development programmes. Prior to this role, Sally had served in both academic and professional services’ roles, the most recent being leading the institutional Postgraduate Research (PGR) Diversity project for student success, aimed at addressing systemic barriers faced by PGRs from underrepresented groups. Sally also co-chairs the Black Female Academics’ Network, a global network that seeks to empower and support the careers and leadership of Black females in academia

Dr Saneeya Qureshi is an internationally award-winning expert in Researcher Development and Research Culture. Known for her strategic and inclusive approaches, she collaborates with multi-level stakeholders across the HE sector. Her expertise includes educational leadership across five continents and corporate management at GlaxoSmithKline. She leads teams overseeing transformative career development and research culture initiatives. She has leadership roles within the European Educational Research Association, Vitae UK’s Policy Advisory Group, UKRI’s Faraday Institution, and the British Academy. She also reviews for international education journals and the European Commission's HR Excellence in Research Award. Connect with Dr Qureshi on LinkedIn.

Having navigated her academic career impacted by challenges imposed by hidden disabilities personally, Claire’s approach to all aspects of research and education prioritises an inclusive approach based on the social model of care. Having studied and worked in both Russell Group and post-1992 universities, she has first-hand experience of how systems and individuals have varying capacities (and willingness) to acknowledge and adjust for diverse needs. This necessitates flexibility within processes and confidence to speak up and question this when adjustments are needed. Claire’s goals are to ensure both the perspective of the PhD candidate, and their supervisory team are considered within all processes.

Bonnie is a leader, mentor, teacher, researcher, author and outreach communicator in Astronomy and Doctoral Education. Professor of Astrodynamics and Doctoral Education, she is an honorary researcher at the University of Glasgow. She recently retired (2024) from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) with 32 years of service, including 18 years as Director of the Graduate School at GCU. She is currently President of Division A Fundamental Astronomy - International Astronomical Union, Trustee of Scottish Universities Summer Schools in Physics (SUSSP) and member of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Education, Training and Careers Committee (ETCC). 
 
She has designed and delivered development programmes for supervisors and ECRs, and is a reviewer of PhD, ProfD, MRes programmes and Graduate Schools across the UK and Ireland. An expert advisor to funding councils, and European and UK universities, she has led UK networks and policy development groups on doctoral education and researcher development. Her passion is the development of people and their communities of practice.

Charikleia (Charoula) Tzanakou is the Director for the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice and  Reader in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, at Oxford Brookes University. She is a mixed methods researcher, using co-creation methods to engage with stakeholders and develop capacity building resources. She has researched doctoral experiences,  academic careers and (im)mobilities from a gender lens contributing to European policy documents and academic literature. In the past 10 years she has become increasingly interested in the meso and macro level challenges of academic inequalities, leading national and international projects on gender equality, diversity and organisational change in higher education institutions. She is currently the PI on a collaborative UK-Brazil project on parenthood policies and initiatives in UK-Brazil higher education  and the scientific coordinator of an upcoming EU project on inclusive gender equality, research and innovation in South East Europe. She is a member of the SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education) EDI Working Group and AB member of the Doctoral Education and Academia Research Centre (DEAR) at the University of Warwick.

Adam is Head of Public Policy at the British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. He has previously worked in higher education policy, particularly relating to research and postgraduates. He has been a chair of the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE) Postgraduate Funding Working Group, a member of the HEFCE Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee and a Trustee of the Council of Validating Universities. He is a Pro-Chancellor of the University of Essex, where he completed his PhD in Government in 2013. He continues to research and publish in the field of political theory.