Overview & Experience

Tom has over 10 years experience working in higher education, research and policy, holds an LLM Master of Laws in Energy and Environmental Law and a Joint Master of Arts in International Relations and History from the University of Aberdeen. He also holds a Diploma from the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Tom has extensive experience translating complex academic, legal and technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for decision-makers and non-specialists. Supporting university leaders, government officials, policymakers and international networks to deliver high-quality strategic initiatives as well as identifying and leveraging funding to strengthen partnerships.

Working across sectors in an interdisciplinary way, blending specialist knowledge of sustainability, decarbonisation and energy with internationalisation, policy and governance to deliver strategic insight, comprehensive coordination and management, enabling practical and action oriented solutions.

Experienced at managing complex funding programmes, navigating international regulatory frameworks and strengthening regional, national and international strategic partnerships.

Funding

Tom supported an area of Scottish Governments Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) funded Strategic Research Programme while at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and Scotland’s Environment Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (SEFARI), he then joined the University of Strathclyde in 2020.

In 2021 Tom led and managed an internal selection and application development process for UKRI’s COP26 Fellowship call, resulting in success for the University of Strathclyde.

While developing a strategic partnership between the University of Strathclyde and a German University, Tom supported a successful application to Royal Society of Edinburghs Scotland-Germany Hydrogen Research Scheme. Take a look at our review page to see how this led to broader strategic alignment and partnership between Scotland and the Ministry of Lower Saxony in Germany.

As well as leading the operational development, coordination and management of six internal bilateral funding calls with International partners, Tom also had responsibility for the operation of the University of Strathclyde’s central funding mechanism for global partnership activity, mobility and an international PhD studentship scheme.