About
I advise universities and governments on transnational education and international partnerships, drawing on executive roles at King's College London and The University of Western Australia.
I grew up in Leeds, went to a state comprehensive, and was the first in my family to go to university, and the only one in my year to get into Oxford. A good university education changed what was possible for me, and I have not forgotten it. It is part of why I am a trustee of Brightside.
I spent more than a decade in the creative industries, in independent music and publishing, including running my own record label. Industry engagement projects took me into universities, and I stayed.
I was at King's College London for more than twelve years. I founded the King's Summer School and King's Professional and Executive Development, taking summer schools to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. As Director of International I brought King's international work, until then split across faculties and campuses, into a single team for the first time, opened King's offices in China, India and Brazil, and established the King's-Peking University Health Science Center Joint Institute for Medical Research, agreed in 2015 and still running a decade on. As Deputy Vice President (Global Business Development) I built the global business development function, took King's into its early transnational education ventures, including a nursing top-up degree delivered in Singapore and its first international capacity-building programme, in nursing education in Nanjing, and initiated and led the negotiation of the Shenzhen partnership that became the SUSTech-King's College London School of Medicine.
In 2019 I joined The University of Western Australia as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Partnerships). My portfolio spanned global engagement, industry partnerships, development and alumni relations, and arts and culture, including a museum, an art gallery and a publishing house. When the pandemic closed Australia's borders, I led the opening of UWA's learning centres in China so that hundreds of students could keep studying. I moved UWA's pathway college to a new provider and onto campus, relaunching Taylors College as UWA College, and took an online MBA into India with IIM Kozhikode.
Back in the UK, after a year as Principal Adviser with Wells Advisory, I set up HS Consulting Education Limited in 2023, putting a company around a consultancy practice that goes back to 1998. Since then I have advised research-intensive universities in the UK, Europe and Asia, sector bodies and governments, on strategy, partnerships and independent reviews for executive teams and governing bodies.
The EAIE. The European Association for International Education is Europe's professional association for international higher education; its annual conference, with more than 7,000 participants, is the largest gathering of its kind in Europe. I have served it since 2016: committee member, chair of its Professional Development Committee, board member and Vice-President. I am President for 2026-27. A voluntary role, kept separate from my advisory work.
Governance. Independent Governor, University of Staffordshire, since 2025 - a deliberate choice: a regional university where many students are the first in their family, returning to education later in life, or arriving through apprenticeships. As a governor I share in the board's oversight of the university as a whole; my particular contribution has been on its international direction, where I support the executive and senior leaders. Trustee, Brightside, since 2024: an education charity that, for more than twenty years, has used online mentoring to help young people facing barriers make confident and informed decisions about their future. In Australia (2019-21) I served on the boards of the Australia-Indonesia Centre, StudyPerth and the Perth Festival, and as the university member of the Western Australian Government's International Education Advisory Group.
Networks. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Member of C33, a network of current and former senior international officers.
Education. MA (Oxon), PGCE (Cantab), MA (SOAS).
I am based in London and remain, for better or worse, a lifelong Leeds United supporter.
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