UrbanTide is a smart cities specialist I'm working with to develop partnerships, deploying innovative problem-solving AI solutions in the fuel poverty space

Virustatic Ltd is an innovative British protein science SME, I was Projects Lead working on research and development projects

After such a successful inaugural event in 2019 I organised the 2020 edition of the Healthcare Hackathon on a freelance basis. It was new to everyone being wholly online but we made it work, and crucially got some excellent engagement and ideas from all the students involved. Watch this space for more information on next year's offering! @healthhackathonLeeds on Facebook

I worked in a partnership context across Leeds Beckett University and Leeds City Council. I was project manager for the Leeds site for two large scale EU funded Horizon 2020 projects - ACTIVAGE and MONICA. I managed Assisted Living Leeds' pop-up innovation lab, ALL INN. I worked alongside public sector staff, academics and students and industry partners and SMEs involved in innovation, and importantly the citizens of Leeds to drive inclusion in projects and meaningful innovation. The diversity and positioning of my role meant I also took part in various wider innovation projects and initiatives relating to health and social care, technology and innovation, and the City of Leeds.

I worked nationally across the mental health business unit. I was responsible for oversight of new service development and existing service development and improvement projects, as well as project managing discrete tasks within wider projects. I had a focus on IAPT, Talking Therapy and wellbeing services and worked closely alongside clinicians and operational managers to deliver high quality services. I worked with the new business team and the contract management element of the role meant I maintained good relationships with commissioners and managed partnerships alongside other third sector and health care delivery agencies.

I managed a portfolio of projects relating to health across two partner organisations. This included relationship building and networking across all levels of the system, working alongside clinicians, commissioners, support staff and citizens. I ran a variety of pilot projects with high levels of stakeholder management required, including private, public and third sector organisations, SMEs and citizens of Leeds. I was involved with wider involvement and engagement initiatives across both Leeds Beckett University and Leeds City Council, and work on funding bids and partnership arrangements. I was project lead at Leeds City Council for ACTIVAGE, a large European Horizon 2020 project trialling how IoT (Internet of Things) can support with AHA (Active and Healthy Ageing). Leeds is one site out of nine around Europe and my role was to design how the service fits into the Leeds health and wellbeing system and be the best possible opportunity for the people who can benefit from it and the city of Leeds. As lead I worked with a wide range of stakeholders, from technologists, senior staff from Samsung as the technology partner and clinicians and senior health and social care staff, and importantly the intended beneficiaries to implement a successful service, which will later be scaled up into other sites around Europe. Additionally I had sole responsibility for a project which brings together people who use assistive technology with companies that develop it, in order to drive innovation, inclusion and improvement. I managed the project within a matrix style of management, to deliver co-design, consultation and needs analysis sessions with range of stakeholders from across the city, academics, and a variety of partner organisations. As well as organising and facilitating the sessions I was responsible for all other aspects of the project including marketing and communications, risk analysis and management, reporting and evaluation, administration and budgeting.

Added responsibility - Project Lead for Leeds deployment site in Activage Project (EU Horizon 2020) http://www.activageproject.eu/

This role was with a national not-for-profit provider of health and social care services and housing for vulnerable adults. As a member of the senior management team I was responsible for all development, communications, engagement and inclusion initiatives across the organisation. My role was integral to a period of growth that saw turnover increase 50%, and the number of services offered doubled, particularly through the creation and strategic and operational management of the Regional Development Team, based at regional offices across the country. The team was responsible for a large programme of development work in line with the strategy and annual business plan for the whole organisation and considering the varied needs of differing regions. The team covered all added value and engagement initiatives, including events, grant applications, service development and partnerships and I supported with planning and completion of tasks, as well as providing mentoring and training.I managed the team alongside end-to-end management of strategic development projects, and additionally had overall responsibility for all volunteering and social enterprise activity. I managed the Marketing team, overseeing all internal and external communications for the organisation. This included newsletters, a magazine, website content and social media pages, plus all large-scale events (for people supported by the organisation and partnership and corporate events) and the creation of promotional material. This includes the corporate art calendar and service information booklets, considering specific communication needs where necessary. I managed a budget of £0.5 million and was responsible for strategic direction of the team as well as day-to-day management. Prior to this role I was a Development Officer, encompassing project and event management, creation and distribution of publicity materials and designing and running inclusion and partnership events and initiatives.

During this time I held various temporary contracts within public bodies after relocating whilst looking for permanent work. The roles encompassed planning and scheduling at DEFRA in York, recruitment at Stockport Homes and homecare commissioning support at Stockport Council. Duties included communicating with internal customers, external recruitment candidates and arranging packages of care for older people.

I performed a range of roles and duties during my time at The Cooperative Insurance, the most longstanding being Communications Adviser.Within this role I was responsible for successfully satisfying internal communications briefs for the Co-operative Insurance. From planning to completion, I was responsible for delivering messages to staff via; presentations; meetings; events; the intranet; magazines and displays. I developed my skills as a copywriter, ensuring all messages were clear, suitable for their target audience, and always delivered to agreed time scales. I gained valuable experience in events management and regularly organised charity and performance celebration events, as well as staff incentives. I also gained valuable exposure to html and Internet publishing.Prior to working with the Internal Communications team I also completed roles in Customer Service and Recruitment, and did project work with the training and complaints teams.This time includes a seven-month career break spent travelling and volunteering in South America.

This project was aimed at conservation of turtles and involved work incredibly different to anything I had done previously, including capture and measurement of wild turtles, followed by tagging and release back to the wild and coastal surveys, as well as awareness raising work, community building and events with the local school. This lasted a month, and meant as well as an incredible experience I was practising Spanish and working with a wide variety of people from around the world and local to the village in Ururguay. www.karumbe.org

This volunteer placement meant living for a month in a national park in Paraguay. This project was aimed at community cohesion, education and with the ultimate aim of saving the endangered rare Atlantic forest. I used my initiative in terms of what tasks to complete, and gained incredibly varied new skills such as woodwork, flora and fauna capture and cataloguing and trail maintenance, and I also got the opportunity to practise my Spanish and work and live with people from differing cultural backgrounds. www.faunaparaguay.com

After University I worked on a temporary contract organizing pre-operative clinics and managing waiting lists for inpatient procedures. I was the point of contact for patients on the waiting lists and communicated dates and requirements through letters and telephone calls.