Dear EiRs,
Now that we are nearing the end of the Lent term, and before you make a start on all those Easter Eggs, I would like to take this opportunity to give you an update on the EiR programme and how things are going.
We have welcomed a further 11 EiRs here on campus since Christmas, and we have been trying our utmost to keep everyone busy with various activities and programmes including teaching, research and business engagement. The EiRs have met with students and research staff, both in organised events including NW Brexit Roundtable discussions, research interviews, guest lectures, presentations and workshops. Over the 10 weeks, just taking the individual EiR visits over the 3 days into consideration alone, (as I know many of you support the students and University aside from the designated days), the total hours contributed was over 61 hours meeting with students plus 63 hours participating in specific teaching modules. Thank you for your invaluable time and effort involved.
Here are a few comments from the EiRs who have been with us this term:-
“…Having been on the periphery of the University as a ‘student’ for a couple of years, it was good to get involved in what the university is there for – to educate young minds. I particularly enjoyed the interactions with the students and feeding off their enthusiasm in particular those who came with business ideas, their entrepreneurial spirit was infectious! Overall a very rewarding experience.”
AK
“….As to the time I spent at the university I thought it was excellent and enjoyed the more structured approach and commitment. Students engaged with the sessions I ran and as always I got out as much as I put in having time to reflect on my own business and listening to interesting new perspectives on it…”
ST
and from the students….
“….I would like to express my gratitude for giving me an opportunity to meet with the Entrepreneur in Residence ( EiRs) each time they come to Lancaster University, especially to ESI department. To be honest, I got a massive benefit from this EiR scheme. This opportunity also provided me with such a great platform to develop my interview skills in collecting the qualitative data for my research…..
Overall, I would say, the EiR program was a great platform for a doctoral student like me to engage with friendly business people in the UK. It is also important to mention that, these EiRs people also appreciate the ideas and insight from the finding of my research where they see it as the great potential to improve their business performance. So I would say that, this collaboration is a win-win situation between student and EiRs….” K Che Hussain
“….I just wanted to say a formal thank you….. to interview the entrepreneurs in residence for my dissertation. I had my first with Anshul this morning and it proved really interesting and provided insight into areas and impact of technology that I had not considered before that I can now use to inform my future interviews. Anshul is a really friendly and approachable guy with great experience to draw from. I must say I have been impressed with the variety of EIRs we have available to us and the ease with which we can get in contact with them is a credit to the ENSI department and management school…” Georgia
“…I had a really good interview with Alan. It has helped me to finalise my data collection and it was interesting to hear the ways Alan feels he has learned during his time as an entrepreneur. Alan commented that the interview was useful for him as well, so it was good to hear that we were both able to benefit from the experience….” Jenni
We also have lessons to learn so please do let us have your feedback on any aspect of the programme.
We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of the Voice coaching workshop with our new Eir Kelly Anne Sharp, being held on Wednesday 17th May 2017, prior to the Marnie Millard Masterclass. Kelly Anne is the owner and founder of Voice Work and has over 24 years’ experience in working with voices, therapy and coaching. She has worked in clinical, performance, business and coaching settings with professional speakers, singers, actors, toastmasters, lawyers, directors, Teachers and individuals with management/director roles within complex public sector (NHS, HMRC, Lancashire County Council) and private sector organisations (ESSE Engineering, TCC Language Translation Service Ltd and FRC Psychology Consultancy). Kelly Anne focuses on teaching her clients new voice skills, enhancing current skills and to gain mastery over their voices and how they come across when communicating with others. Thus helping them develop greater confidence in their verbal communication and presentation. This also empowers them to achieve better results within both their personal and professional lives.
This voice work session will be an engaging mix of theory and interactive work, looking at the importance of voice in effective communication, how your voice works, why it works for you and why it sometimes doesn’t.
The workshop is taking place between 4.00pm to 5.00pm, in LT11, here at the Management School. This is a chance for all the EiRs to get together and then to join the audience for networking and the Masterclass in LT1 from 5.30pm.
Thank you to everyone so far who has advised they will be attending. Should you be interested in participating, please do let me know asap. Invites for the Masterclass will be sent separately in the coming few weeks.
If we can be of any help, or you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Happy Easter everyone,