Welcome the Knowledge Exchange Awards 2024

The Knowledge Exchange Awards will celebrate the best collaborations between University of Exeter researchers and external partners regionally, nationally, and globally.

The awards will see three shortlisted projects in each of seven categories, as judged by a panel of senior University staff and external reviewers. All shortlisted nominees will be invited to the award ceremony on Thursday 3 October 2024 at the Great Hall, Streatham Campus.

Nominations for the Knowledge Exchange Awards are now open. Submit your application here, or scroll down to the ‘Nominations’ section of this webpage for additional information.  

About the awards  |  Award Categories  |  Nominations  |  Speakers  |  Sponsors  

Stuart Brocklehurst, Host 

Stuart Brocklehurst is Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Business Engagement and Innovation, leading the University of Exeter’s collaboration with business and our drive to deliver innovation through our research and education. He also leads the translation of our work on climate and the environment as Director of Green Futures Solutions. 

Stuart started his career in banking, holding a number of roles with Barclays in the UK and Africa, including as Head of Internet Strategy. As Senior Vice President for Digital Commerce at Visa International CEMEA he led the adoption of new forms of technology and business models, including eCommerce authentication, chip and contactless payments and national payment networks. Following a period as a Partner at consultancy Carbon, Stuart joined Amadeus in support of its IPO and served as Group Communications Director after the flotation. He went on to run his own business up to its sale to the Troy Group, where he remains a Non-Executive Director. 

Stuart is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, a Chartered IT Professional, a Chartered Manager, and holds a degree in theology from Oxford. 

He has served on numerous company boards, on the synod and Bishop’s Council of the Diocese of Exeter, as a Governor of Petroc College in North Devon and as a Leadership Fellow of Exeter Business School. He is a Director of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, the Exeter Liveable Place Board and the Great South West Pan Regional Partnership, Chair of the region’s Innovation Board and Chair of the Exeter Science Centre Advisory Board. He sits on the boards of the GW4 and SETsquared university partnerships, the South West Nuclear Hub, the Centre for Resilience in Environment Water and Waste, the UK COP28 Alignment Group, the Zayed Sustainability Prize selection committee, the executive committee of parliament’s Rural Economy Group, and chairs the Devon and Cornwall Military Education Committee. 

Justin Leigh, Compere

Justin Leigh is a familiar face across the South West. For the last 20 years, he was one of the main presenters of the BBC’s most successful regional news programme, Spotlight. He was also a presenter on BBC Radios Devon and Cornwall, in a career spanning more than 30 years.

During that time he has interviewed thousands of people from all walks of life including Royalty, Prime Ministers and leading figures from local politics and business. Justin has broadcast live from some of the biggest events in the region, such as the Dawlish rail line collapse, the grounding of the Napoli container ship in East Devon, and the devastating flood which swept through the Cornish village of Boscastle. He has also reported from around the world including South Africa, the Arctic Circle, France and Belgium.

A highly skilled presenter, Justin has also hosted complex general election debates and special programmes on the effect of Brexit and the 2008 economic crash. Born and brought up in Cornwall, Justin is passionate about the region and the issues affecting everyone who lives here. Since stepping down from his BBC role in 2020, Justin is now teaching the next generation of journalists at Plymouth Marjon University. He is also a freelance broadcaster and media trainer and contributes a fortnightly column to the Cornish Times and Cornish & Devon Post Newspapers.