My areas of research interest and expertise are: innovation management and new product development - including disruptive, green,open, social and responsible innovation; diversity management; buyer-supplier relationships; social media and branding.  These have been across sectors, but some sectors such as automotive, law and Higher Education have featured more strongly in my research.

I am Professor Emerita of Innovation Management in the Norwich Business School, UEA and was Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) from 2016 to 2023.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University.  

To support my research, I have successfully raised external research funding from the European Commission, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC) worth over £2m. I have served on the EPSRC College of Peers (1996-2013) and also review proposals and final reports for ESRC and EC. Between 2005 and 2009, I served on the AHRC/EPSRC Advisory Committee for the Designing for the 21st Century Initiative.

I have co-authored over 100 refereed journal and conference papers, in academic journals including Research Policy, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, R&D Management, International Journal of Production Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Applied Energy, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Technology Management and Journal of Knowledge Management. I have won Best Paper Awards at the British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference and at the eBusiness and eWork Conference. I also received an Emerald LiteratiNetwork Highly Commended Award for a journal paper in 2008.

I was Editor-in-Chief for the Team Performance Management journal (2007-2013), and I am currently on the Editorial Advisory Boards for the British Journal of Management and Team Performance Management journal.

I am an active PhD supervisor and have supervised 18 students to successful completion. I have also examined over 30 doctoral candidates as both internal and external examiner (including at Cambridge University, Warwick University, Manchester Business School, Cranfield University (Schools of Management and Applied Sciences), Leeds University Business School, Exeter University, University of Nottingham, Aston Business School and Liverpool John Moores University).

Before joining UEA, I was a senior lecturer at Cranfield University (School of Applied Sciences/School of Manufacturing/International Ecotechnology Research Centre).  Prior to my academic career, I worked in industry as a project manager for Centrica British Gas and a change consultant for BMW Rover.