Professor Sue Smith

Director, Centre for SME and Enterprise DevelopmentSchool of Business

Sue has an extensive track record of university business engagement. She is passionate about how people learn to lead and manage and the real impact this can have on a business. Sue has designed and taught on many leadership development and entrepreneurship programmes for diverse learners in Higher Education from undergraduates and postgraduates to post experience adult learners who do not traditionally engage with universities. Sue’s interests are small business and regional development and the role universities play in helping the SME sector (including the third sector) to thrive and grow. Her academic research focuses on two areas. The first is using social theories of learning to look at the impact of SME peer learning. The second is the relationship between universities, business and government and the impact this can have on the regional economy. This research-informed practice based work enables real impact for all shapes and sizes of businesses including multi-nationals, medium sized enterprises, micro-SMEs, scale ups, social enterprises and co-operatives, student start-ups and university spin-outs. Prior to working in the Higher Education sector, Sue worked in the private sector for blue-chip companies and SMEs as a Research Manager.