The Academic Adventures Podcast

Emily Doolittle is a lecturer and research fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. She is also an independent composer, working on commissions and personal projects alongside her academic work.Emily shares how she combines these different roles including:Why she identifies as stubborn rather than entrepreneurialThe ways that her academic and freelance work are int

Kavi Jagadamma is a senior lecturer in physiotherapy at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. He is also one of four directors at Health Design Collective, a social enterprise which co-creates shoes for people with long-term health conditions.Kavi shares the company’s journey to date including:The huge value of mentoring and supportHow applying for enterprise funding differs from

Duncan Graham and Karen Faulds are both chemistry professors at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. They were part of the team which founded the diagnostics spin-out company D3 Technologies in 2007.Duncan and Karen share what they learned from both starting and closing the company including:Their long, slow journey to try and make D3 Technologies a viable businessThe importan

Anne Muir is Director of Portfolio at EOS, an organisation that invests in university spin-out companies. Prior to that she was Head of IP and Commercialisation at the University of Dundee.Anne talks about what she has learned from a long career in technology transfer and business development including:The art and science of successful commercializationWhy everyone needs sales trai

Anton is the founder of Quas Drinks, a company he set up in 2021 whilst completing a PhD in synthetic biology at the University of Edinburgh. A serial entrepreneur, he established his first venture while still a Masters’ student but closed the business in 2019.Anton shares what he has learned from his journey including:How his entrepreneurial dreams were inspired by an ex-girlfri

John Storm is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen Business School, as well as being an independent consultant. He lived and worked in China for 10 years and continues to work with companies all over the world.John shares how he uses this business experience to support the next generation of entrepreneurs including:Why he often relates more to his students than his acade

Catriona Liddle is Head of the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Before this Catriona spent over 20 years as a product developer in the food industry. In this episode Catriona shares the journey to developing palm oil substitute Palm-Alt and what she has learned about collaborations between academia and industry including

Professor Andy Porter is a part-time academic and director of the Scottish Biologics Facility at the University of Aberdeen. He also holds exec and non-exec positions in several life science and drinks businesses in Scotland.In this episode Andy shares the highs and lows of 20 years in academic entrepreneurship from his first big venture Haptogen to the portfolio career he has toda

Dr Genevieve Patenaude is an environmental scientist (formerly University of Edinburgh) and CEO of environmental mapping company Earth Blox. In this episode Genevieve shares how she evolved from academic to entrepreneur and what she has learned along the way including: Why she always wanted to be an entrepreneur and why Earth Blox was the right business at the right timeThe importa

Dr Marc Reid is a chemist, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, podcast host and author based at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.In this episode Marc shares the story of his first business venture, Pre-Site Safety, and what he learned from it including:The deeply personal mission behind Pre-Site Safety and why he is ultimately grateful that it didn’t work outHow important convers