Consultancy Services

Anne is a Senior Commercialisation Associate helping to facilitate consultancy projects for University staff who share their knowledge and expertise with external (commercial, government, etc.) clients for the benefit of society.

Prior to joining Cambridge Enterprise, Anne worked at Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education where she advised on contractual and data protection matters and acted as delegated secretary to the board of directors. She was previously a senior contracts manager at the University of Cambridge Research Operations Office.

Anne read law at university in France, qualified as a solicitor in England and worked as a solicitor in London and Paris prior to moving to Cambridge.

Anne joined Cambridge Enterprise in April 2023.

Billy is a Commercialisation Associate, helping to facilitate the licensing of the research tools portfolio.

Prior to Cambridge Enterprise, Billy spent 10 months as Sales Coordinator at an Atomic Force Microscopy start-up, where he managed and developed industry and academic accounts. He completed a BSc in Biochemistry and MSc in Molecular Medicine, both at the University of Sheffield.

Billy joined Cambridge Enterprise in March 2023

Alexander is a Commercialisation Associate helping to facilitate consultancy projects with University staff who share their knowledge and expertise with external (commercial, government, etc.) clients for the benefit of society.

Prior to working with Cambridge Enterprise, Alexander was working as an Intellectual Property Intern at Kingfisher Plc in Paddington, London. During his employment, he was primarily entrusted with negotiating contracts and assessing intellectual property registrability of new projects.

Alexander read Law at University. Graduating with a First-Class LLB in 2020.

Alexander joined Cambridge Enterprise in August 2022.

Siân is the Research Tools Portfolio Manager.  She works with academics across the university to market and licence a diverse portfolio of research tools including reagents, software, copyright, confidential information and database rights.   

She joins Cambridge Enterprise from the Cambridge Graphene Centre where she worked jointly with the Graphene Flagship as Business Developer specialising in the photonics and optoelectronics areas.  Exploring her interest in science communication she also worked as the Graphene Flagship’s Press Coordinator and Communications Officer. 

Previously to that she spent five years in southern California working as the Market and Technology Development Manager for Linde Nanomaterials (part of the Linde Group) which was created to commercialise the carbon–based nanotechnology developed and patented during her PhD. She also has experience in early start–up generation having spun the technology out of Linde, creating Anionica. 

Early in her career she also worked in the quality control department of a company that manufactured rattlesnake antivenom for a number of years. 

Siân has a Master of Chemistry degree from Oxford University and a Nanotechnology PhD from Imperial College London. 

Siân joined Cambridge Enterprise in September 2021. 

Ciaran is a Senior Commercialisation Associate helping to facilitate consultancy projects with University staff who share their knowledge and expertise with external (commercial, government, etc) clients for the benefit of society.

Prior to joining Cambridge Enterprise, Ciaran spent 18 months working at EDF Energy as a Commercial Graduate on their Commercial Graduate Scheme. While in this role, he worked in a variety of business units including Legal, Sales and Marketing, and Customer Operations.

Ciaran read Law at University, graduating with an LLB in 2018.

Ciaran joined Cambridge Enterprise in April 2020.

Yvette is the PA and Administrator to the Consultancy Services team.

As a PA and Administrator, she supports the Consultancy and Research Tools team with all associated administrative tasks.

She has a wealth of administrative experience in various sectors including Office Manager at the Autism Centre of Excellence, temporary roles of Technology Transfer/PA, Consultancy Administrator/PA (maternity cover) and Data Project Coordinator at Cambridge Enterprise and Business Operations Administrator/PA at the MRC Elsie Widdowson Laboratory.

Yvette re-joined Cambridge Enterprise in July 2021.

Kirsty is a Senior Commercialisation Associate helping to facilitate consultancy projects with University staff who share their knowledge and expertise with external (commercial, government, etc.) clients for the benefit of society.

Kirsty joined Consultancy Services from the Business Support Team within Cambridge Enterprise.

Prior to joining Cambridge Enterprise, Kirsty worked in the legal team of Dr. Martens, mainly specialising in Trade Mark matters. She has previously worked in private practice Burberry and has interned at New Era Caps and Trading Standards.

Kirsty read Law at University and has completed the Intellectual Property Post Graduate Certificate, which has foundation level examinations for qualification as a patent attorney and trade mark attorney in the UK (IPReg/CIPA/CITMA).

Kirsty joined Cambridge Enterprise in 2017.  

Helena provides high level administrative support to the Consultancy Team and is PA to Amanda Zeffman, Head of Consultancy Services.

Helena’s duties include the following: being the first point of contact for enquiries; keeping accurate records and documents on the CRM system; producing management data; regular liaison with the finance team; and arranging travel and meetings. Helena is also an active member of the Professional Assistants Team, providing personal, efficient and confidential support to Cambridge Enterprise as a whole.

Helena has had extensive involvement with the development and implementation of the new CRM system. She has used her understanding of the company and its processes to ensure the system reflects the requirements of the team and continues to provide support with the project throughout its next phases.

Before joining Cambridge Enterprise, Helena worked for Volac International Limited for three years as Office Administrator. While at Volac, Helena offered admin support to a wide variety of staff within Head Office, including direct assistance to the Human Nutrition Director, and to staff in other locations in the UK and Europe. Prior to this, Helena was Supervisor at Zoom Answer Call, a telephone answering service based in Cambridge. At Zoom, Helena managed the telephone operators to ensure the highest level of customer service was provided to the clients.

Helena joined Cambridge Enterprise in January 2017.   

Amanda is Head of Consultancy Services and Research Tools, a fast-growing service dedicated to generating both societal and economic impact from academic research by facilitating consultancy between University academics from across all disciplines within the University and external organisations.

The Consultancy Services team has supported almost 400 consultancy projects this past year of which many arose from Arts, Humanities or Social Science disciplines. In 2017-18, Amanda’s team saw a 63% increase in the number of new consultants with deals signed for 165 academics and 234 clients in that period.

Amanda periodically delivers training to technology transfer professionals for PraxisAuril, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and the European Association for Technology Transfer Professionals (ASTP), and is on the Board of Directors for ASTP as VP for Professional Development.

Amanda previously worked for the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy, where she ran a newly created interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Centre. As Project Manager, she co-ordinated the PhD programme and brought together academics and industry to generate collaborative research projects in targeted therapeutics as well as running a government-funded project to develop researchers’ transferable skills. She has also worked for the Food Standards Agency in scientific policy and for Isis Research (now known as Synovate Healthcare) where she was responsible for planning, implementing and analysing large international studies on HIV therapy for the pharmaceutical industry.

Amanda has a PhD in HIV research from the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge.

Amanda joined Cambridge Enterprise as Consultancy Associate in January 2008 and became Head of Consultancy in February 2015.

As the Commercialisation Manager for Consultancy Services, Peri supports University staff to share their expertise and generate impact by providing consultancy services to external clients (commercial, government, etc.). This includes giving advice on pricing, risk assessment, negotiating contracts and managing the financial administration.

Peri has led the development of Cambridge Enterprise’s successful Consultancy 101 Workshop which she continues to deliver and which is now also available as an online course.

Peri also plays a key role in our International Outreach Programme both as a contract manager and by delivering presentations on consultancy. She regularly gives presentations internally at the University and delivers bespoke training workshops externally, including at Praxis’ Consultancy Training course.

Peri joined the consultancy team back in 2012 as maternity cover for the Team Administrator. She then took up an Associate position in 2013 before being promoted to Manager in 2016.

Helen is Deputy head of Consultancy Services, a fast-growing service dedicated to generating both societal and economic impact from academic research by facilitating consultancy between University academics from across all disciplines with the University and external organisations.

Helen oversees the work of the Consultancy Services team who support almost 400 consultancy projects per year. Helen and the team offer assistance to academics throughout the lifecycle of their consultancy projects including giving advice on pricing, negotiating contracts and managing the financial administration.

Before joining Cambridge Enterprise, Helen worked at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute as the Executive Assistant to the Director. Helen has extensive experience of the workings of the University of Cambridge and the interface between academics and industry as she spent ten years in the University’s Research Office in various roles, culminating in the post of Assistant Director, School of Clinical Medicine.

Helen has a BSc in Geography from the University of Cambridge.

Helen is a PraxisAuril Mentor and has contributed to PraxisAuril consultancy training courses.

Helen joined Cambridge Enterprise in August 2014.