The Team

Kasia Williams

Compliance & Data Co-ordinator

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Chloe Gordon

Financial Administrator

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Dr Gerry Ronan

Project Director

Dr Ronan worked in the industry for 20 years before joining Swansea University as Head of Commercial Services. He has a PhD in Physics and is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and has worked in the fields of medical devices and drug discovery. At Swansea, he has championed a progressive approach to technology transfer which has created a vibrant pipeline of commercial opportunities.

Email: [email protected]

Ciaran Whyte

Project Manager

Ciaran is a PMI certified project manager who, after a career spanning more than 30 years at IBM, joined Swansea University in 2009 as University Risk Administrator and then Major Projects Programme Manager. He led a team to deploy professional risk management and project assurance activity for the university’s major strategic projects before heading up AgorIP in January 2017.

Email: [email protected]

Berna Jones

Technology Transfer Officer

With 16 years of experience in business and administration. Berna attained a bachelor’s degree in Econometrics and completed a Masters in Business Administration at Swansea Metropolitan University. Before joining AgorIP, Berna managed the Swansea University Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded Impact Acceleration Account Project, helping researchers to engage with industry and to bring their ideas to the market. For this work, Berna won Swansea award for ‘Best Partnership Building with External Stakeholders’. Previously, Berna was a Knowledge Exchange Officer in the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, administering a number of externally funded projects designed to engage with local businesses and the public to provide knowledge exchange support and advice.

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Dr Mark Bowman

Pipeline Manager

Dr Bowman has been working with Swansea University since 2013. He previously ran the highly successful Welsh Government funded InvestorG8 investment readiness pilot and the Swansea Healthcare Innovation Partnership Programme (SHIPP). Mark also helped to set up the Swansea University Innovation Fund (SUIF) which works with third party investors to finance spin-out companies based on the university’s academic research. Prior to setting up his consultancy company Arche Innovations, Dr Bowman had a diverse career spanning university technology transfer, early-stage venture capital investment management and start-up incubation. As Pipeline Manager for AgorIP, Dr Bowman chairs a Commercial Panel consisting of venture capital investors who make recommendations concerning the viability of projects being considered for funding.

Email: [email protected]

Kyam Gilkes-Murray

Portfolio Administrator/ Paralegal

Graduating from Swansea University Law School in 2016, Kyam joined Agor IP to pursue a career in Intellectual Property (IP). Responsible for the management of Agor IP and Swansea University’s IP portfolio and database thereto, Kyam has developed and honed skills and knowledge she attained consulting to Swansea Innovations following graduation.

A key member of the team, Kyam’s knowledge on aspects of drafting and amending commercial agreements, consultancy agreements, contracts and liaising with third party legal consultants make her the ‘go to’ person within Agor IP for legal matters.

When not working in the dark arts of IP you will find Kyam watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the 100th time!

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Laurel Jones

Technology Transfer Manager

Laurel enjoyed an extensive career in Business/Commercial banking for over 20 years, latterly as a Business Development Manager for Bank of Scotland based at Swansea.

She joined the University in 2009, originally as the Finance & Compliance Manager for the ESF funded LEAD Wales Programme, where she was responsible for managing a £8m budget in line with stringent EU Procurement guidelines.

Taking up a new challenge with a focus on returning to the Commercial sector, Laurel joins AgorIP from the University’s Research Engagement & Innovation Services Department, where she was an External Contracts Officer, managing a portfolio of European-funded Major Projects totalling in excess of £50m, facilitating financial claims, providing eligibility guidance and overseeing both internal and external audits.

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Meghann Morris

Technology Transfer Manager

Meghann was born in the US but spent her childhood in Solva, Pembrokeshire, before moving to Australia at the age of 10. Graduating from the University of New South Wales, Australia, with a Masters in Programme Management, Meghann is an experienced and qualified Project Manager who has worked for the defence, health, research and higher education sectors.

Meghann returned to Wales in 2007 and has worked on European Regional Development Funded opportunities, as well as more recently holding the position of Project Portfolio Manager for Swansea University assuring and managing the associated risks of its Major Project portfolio.

Email: [email protected]

Rhydian Owen

Technology Transfer Manager

Rhydian was born in the late 70s in West Wales, and grew up loving football, playing bass guitar and fishing with his brothers. He disliked dance music, Watership Down, and actually catching any fish.

Rhydian has spent over a decade working as a strategic planner, programme manager and policymaker at different Welsh Universities, the NHS and Welsh Government. He learned how teams and organisations work, and how to improve what they do.

During this time, he developed an interest in working with small businesses, and learned how to apply his corporate planning and management expertise to startup companies. Working for AgorIP, Rhydian now uses these skills to help academics and NHS staff turn their inventions and ideas into viable new businesses.

Email: [email protected]

Steven Powell

Technology Transfer Officer

Steven has worked in Engineering Product Design and Project Management for more than 12 years with Rank Xerox, CMW(Med) Labs, VW/Audi and SMEs. Moving from industry to Higher Education, Steven has worked in both Academic and Project Management roles for 20 years, establishing design under and postgraduate courses including MPhil and PhD supervision as Head of Product Design. Steven’s technology transfer experience covers extensive academic to business engagement and collaboration, and has managed a number of University knowledge exchange innovation projects and programs in the UK and Europe. An active member of the Institute of Engineering Designers (IED) professional body, Steve is a panel member for accreditation of University design courses throughout the UK.

Email: [email protected]

Yvonne Jones

Cross Cutting Themes Administrator

Yvonne is a sustainable development specialist; she has a background in science education, waste and environmental management, and is a Lead Auditor for ISO14001. In 2004, having gained an MSc in Education for Sustainable Development she undertook a career change, and began working on local environmental quality, for a prominent Welsh charity. She joined Swansea University in 2007 as a Business Development Officer for an EU funded project, and since then has worked on many others. Over this time her sustainability background naturally led her into the field of EU funding cross cutting themes (CCTs) and she currently she works on CCTs for AgorIP, Seacams2 and The Computational Foundry. She also advises other projects in this area across the University as the need arises. Yvonne is also part of the Secretariat for RCE Wales, a UN supported network of centres of expertise in sustainability education. In this capacity she liaises with universities across Wales.

Email: [email protected]