Jeremy Phillipson – Director

Matthew Gorton – Deputy Director

I’m Deputy Director of NICRE and Professor of Marketing at Newcastle University Business School. My research on rural business began with a PhD on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in rural England. For the last twenty years, I have worked at Newcastle University. I have been involved in several projects related to rural enterprises, food supply chains and food marketing. I teach marketing and collaborate extensively with colleagues in the Centre for Rural Economy. I am currently the coordinator of the EU Horizon 2020 project Strength2Food. This project considers the economic, social and environmental impacts of food quality schemes, public sector food procurement and short food supply chains.

Barbara Tocco – Centre Manager & Senior Research Associate

Geraldine Crimmens – Operations Coordinator

I’m Operations Coordinator at NICRE. I support the NICRE Management Team and partners to achieve the Centre’s strategic aims and objectives. I lead on all operational and administrative processes at the Centre. I am responsible for developing and implementing required processes, from purchasing, to finance and procurement. I’m the first point of contact for partner and stakeholder enquiries. I provide comprehensive administrative support in coordinating and supporting designated committees.

Thao Nguyen – Research Associate

I’m a Research Associate in Quantitative Data Analysis at NICRE. My research interests relate to SMEs’ access to the financial market and their business growth. I have used quantitative research techniques to study how firm performance is constrained by financial resources and how firms’ perception of financial constraints relates to their credit-rationing experience in the financial market. My current work aims at understanding regional differences in access to external funding and performance in small firms. I’m completing my PhD in Business and Management at Warwick Business School which focuses on entrepreneurial finance.

Paul Cowie – Co-Investigator & Innovation Research Fellow

I’m Co-Investigator at NICRE & Innovation Research Fellow at Newcastle University. I lead on the innovation work and the Living Lab programme in North-East England. My research interests are in innovation systems and how discovery research can be mobilised to have real-world impact. My PhD focussed on rural in-migrant entrepreneurs and the knowledge economy. I was previously a research fellow with the Future Cities Catapult working on planning for smart city initiatives. I'm interested in testing quadruple-helix models of regional innovation and the use of design thinking in applied research. My goal is to develop smart rural models to tackle the complex challenges faced by rural communities.

Sara Maioli – Co-Investigator

I’m Co-Investigator at NICRE and Senior Lecturer in Economics at Newcastle University Business School. I’m an applied economist with expertise in firm-level data. My research interests relate to applying micro-econometrics techniques to issues in international economics, trade, labour, international business, applied industrial organisation, SMEs and rural businesses. Recent topics of investigation include performance of rural vs. urban small and medium enterprises, spatial differences in labour productivity, international trade via air cargo and the international dimension of creative industries. I’ve been affiliated with Rural Enterprise UK since 2016. I hold a PhD in Economics and, before joining Newcastle University, I was a research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP) at the University of Nottingham, and a research fellow at the Ente Einaudi in Rome.

Frances Rowe – Research Associate

Katie Aitken-McDermott – PhD Researcher

I'm a PhD Student at the Centre for Rural Economy and Newcastle University Business School. I'm an applied social scientist with expertise in qualitative research methods. My work focuses on the resources and processes, particularly from a social perspective, used to start-up and sustain enterprises, in both private and social sectors. My thesis focuses on how individuals and groups start and sustain community and social enterprises. This is a collaborative project with Durham Community Action, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Previous research includes work with The Princes Trust and North Pennines LEADER which focused on barriers and enablers for young people setting up their businesses in different rural areas, funded by One North East. Prior to returning to academia in 2014 I worked and lived in the North East for twenty years. Previous roles included supporting community business start-up, widening participation work at both Northumbria University and Newcastle University, training and development.

Roger Turner – Rural Economies Consultant

I’m a Rural Economies' Consultant at NICRE. I have over 45 years of employment and activity for the UK’s rural land users and enterprises. I have worked, since 2014, with Newcastle University’s Centre for Rural Economy, and the Rural Enterprise UK team, as policy advisor and Knowledge Exchange Facilitator. I've built links between our researchers and policy and economic leaders, rural, business, third and public sector organisations. My work draws on employment and experience in farming, forestry, environmental conservation and rural businesses since the ‘70s. I have advised and represented these communities, shaping evidence, policies, operational and support programmes for their needs and futures. Experience of rural estates management laid the foundation for national positions at the NFU, RSPB, Countryside Agency and Commission for Rural Communities, as well as work with the UK’s countries to local governments, EU, OECD and UN organisations and programmes. I have pioneered improved analysis and reporting of rural economies' statistics and outputs, including in the aftermath of the 2007/08 Depression, brokered relationships between divided interests in rural activities, and provided a ‘rural voice’ in many forums where it was previously absent.

Melanie Thompson-Glen - Business Development Manager

I’m the Business Development Manager at NICRE. With 25 years working in rural business support in a variety of roles from practical environmental projects, supporting businesses to start, grow and export as well as training both businesses and community organisations, I bring a wide range of practical and applied experience to NICRE. My role is to engage with the wide range of organisations, businesses and stakeholders operating in rural areas to promote the work of NICRE, to help them find the support that they need to grow and to provide a range of training and best practice sharing events. I also support the Living Lab innovation projects, supporting organisations and communities to get involved and disseminating their findings to interested parties. As someone who lives, and raises a family in a rural community, the work of NICRE provides an exciting opportunity to play a part in shaping the future of those communities and helping to tap into their natural ability for innovation and extend their business talents for a sustainable future.

Jaclyn Curry - Communications and Impact Manager

I’m the communications and impact manager at NICRE and my role is to raise awareness of its key messages and outcomes to a variety of audiences. I manage all aspects of communications with external stakeholders and internally with partners. I oversee NICRE’s social media presence and website and liaise with the media in order to showcase its work. Before joining NICRE, I was a reporter on a local newspaper in rural Northumberland and worked for more than a decade in communications in the NHS.

Ian Merrell - Research Fellow

I am a postdoctoral research fellow, based at NICRE and the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University. My research interests are around innovation systems and their applicability to rural areas, rural enterprise hubs, rural entrepreneurship and participatory governance models. I am currently sponsored by the ESRC to write my PhD findings on rural enterprise hubs into journal articles, to collaborate with NICRE colleagues and to plan new research agendas around the Centre’s objectives and goals.

Janet Dwyer – Co-director

I’m Co-Director of NICRE, Professor of Rural Policy and Director of Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I direct and undertake research related to agriculture, the environment and rural development. My research expertise centres on European and UK rural development policy and practice, with particular interest in integrated approaches, environmental sustainability and institutional adaptation. I’m well-known in policymaking circles in the UK and EU with skills in facilitation and consensus-building. I’m a regular speaker at international conferences. I’m an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies of the UK and of the French Academie d’Agriculture, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a founder and steering group member of the Uplands Alliance, and an active member of the UK Agricultural Economics Society. Recent projects include a farm survey of Exmoor; a major EU-28 study on public goods and ecosystem services from farming and forestry (PEGASUS); supporting the government of Malta to review its agriculture policy and prepare its RDP for 2014-2020; and a pan-EU study on Rural Development impacts (RuDI).

Tom MacMillan – Deputy Director

I’m Deputy Director of NICRE, Creak Chair Professor in Rural Policy and Strategy at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), and Research Director for the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission. My work informs national and international policy relating to the land-based sector, the environment and food. I’m an advisor to the National Food Strategy and I joined the RAU from the Soil Association, where I was Director of Innovation. There, I founded the Innovative Farmers network, which supports practical ‘field labs’ by farmers. During 2003-2011 I was also Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council. I have a PhD in geography from the University of Manchester, where I investigated the use and abuse of science in food regulation.

Amr Khafagy – Research Assistant

Inge Hill – Co-investigator

I’m Co-Investigator at NICRE, Senior Lecturer in Business Strategy and Associate Head for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU). My research interests focus on small business growth, creative industries, and rural economy business support. My current research on UK artisan entrepreneurs is informed by process and practice theories. I am Chair of the Strategy Special Interest Group with the British Academy of Management and assess Business Schools for the Small Business Charter accreditation. A former award-winning service entrepreneur, I started two businesses. A specialist in evaluation of publicly funded business development programmes, I also advised SMEs and shaped business support programmes.

Mauro Vigani – Co-Investigator

I am Co-Investigator at NICRE and Associate Professor in Agricultural Economics and Econometrics at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I am an applied economist for the agricultural and food sectors with more than 10 years of experience in agricultural economics and policy. I have a consolidated experience in working on policy assessment, food standards, biotechnology, technology adoption, food security and agricultural labour. More recently, my research activity concerned agricultural productivity, supply chain arrangements and risks management. At the CCRI, I am lead researcher for the H2020 project SURE-Farm and senior economist consultant for the UN FAO, European Commission and European Parliament.

Steve Roper – Co-Director

Kevin Mole – Deputy Director

I am Deputy Director of NICRE and Associate Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School. My expertise ranges across a variety of qualitative and quantitative research techniques: on external advice to small firms, the diagnosis of firm problems, policy choices in business support, firm growth and the adoption of new working practices in SMEs. I have worked for the Advanced Institute of Management and client list includes OECD, the government department for Business, past clients included the Small Business Service and Business Link University.

Maria Wishart – Research Fellow

I am Research Fellow at NICRE and at the Enterprise Research Centre at Warwick Business School. Since joining Warwick in 2018, I have contributed to a multi-country study into SME resilience funded by JP Morgan, and to a major UK study into mental health in the workplace. My current research interests include business and individual resilience, ethics, innovation and entrepreneurship. Before coming to academia, I spent 17 years working in global consumer marketing roles in UK-based companies.

Serdal Ozusaglam – Research Associate

I'm a Research Associate at NICRE and a postdoctoral fellow at the Enterprise Research Centre at Warwick Business School. I hold a PhD in Economics and Innovation Management. My interdisciplinary research seeks to address real-world challenges through policy-relevant economic analysis, by examining the impact of innovation, in particular Environmental Innovations, on firm growth and competitiveness for manufacturing and agricultural enterprises. I use applied economic and econometric methods to understand how businesses and regions can become more sustainable. Latest work explores the institutional, demand and supply-side factors, and organisational dynamics, that drive conventional and environmental innovations, as well as firm performance. I am also currently working on a BBSRC Global Challenges Research project on Valuing Orchard and Integrated Crop Ecosystem Services. .

Jiao Liu – ERC Centre Manager

I am the ERC Centre Manager, based at Warwick Business School. I am responsible for providing effective project management including budgetary responsibility, overseeing the development of strategic and planning documentation, and providing effective administrative support to the Director and Deputy Directors.