Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, as carried out in Higher Education, has been the focus of my work for the last 20 years. As a research fellow at the University of Bristol (UK), an Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger in Norway and as an independent academic, I have worked internationally with universities supporting them on developing academic supervisors, postgraduate students and research policy. This work was originally part of my role as a senior academic development adviser at the University of Surrey (UK). Prior to that I was the headmistress of two schools, worked in consultancy and other business advisory roles (including for JP Morgan and the Industrial Society), stood as a candidate in various local, national and European elections and undertook several charitable or not for profit trusteeships. I am a Graduate member of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. Earlier in 2026 I completed a Certificate in Spiritual Direction at Sarum College, UK. My problem-solving framework for effectively managing research projects has been widely published and used, the Better Futures programme offers an opportunity to re-examine the five different approaches outlined in my books ‘Successful Research Supervision’ and ‘Successful Research Projects’ (2020) Routledge, to deepen them and to test whether or not, by using Cambridge resources and networks, they can usefully be applied to any of the other complex problems that humankind faces.
