Kirstie is currently acting as Deputy Director for Enterprise at the University of Essex following her appointment as EIRA Director in 2018. As Deputy Director for Enterprise, Kirstie is the lead for all of the knowledge exchange and business engagement activity and aims to further develop commercialisation of the University's excellent research. Previously, Kirstie led the Connecting Capabilities Fund grant that was awarded to the University of Essex in 2018. The Enabling Innovation: Research to Application (EIRA) project is based around the Eastern Arc consortium of the Universities of Essex, Kent and East Anglia and now covers 7 HEI’s in the East of England. Prior to this role, Kirstie was the Knowledge Exchange Manager for Life Science at the University of Essex, looking after business development and engagement, the IP portfolio and technology transfer activity. Kirstie has previously worked at King’s College London where she was Business Development Manager with a focus on health-related research; and from 2005 – 2008, Kirstie worked at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control as a microbiologist and then in their commercial development function.