For the third in our meet the team series, we sat down with Dr Catherine Breslin, Head of IP and Commercialisation. Read on to find out more.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I was born just outside Bristol and grew up there with my 3 brothers before leaving to do an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at UCL. I then moved to Edinburgh to do an MSc in Cognitive Sciences and a PhD in Neuromorphic Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. I did a 2-year postdoc until realising that I was not happy trying to solve transistor equations all day and finally had a proper think about what I really wanted to do.
This led to a 5-year job with a pharma start-up that in true start-up style, meant wearing a number of hats: drug discovery programme design, project management, business development and a memorable trip to visit pharma companies in Tokyo. It also involved collaborations with academics, including Prof Judy Pratt in SIPBS – and a shout-out to her for noticing when I was made redundant and suggesting that there might be a tech transfer role at Strathclyde.
So, 16 years ago, I showed up at the door of RKES and I’m now Head of IP & Commercialisation in the Innovation & Industry Engagement Directorate. My team is responsible for identifying & protecting University-owned IP; supporting individuals & teams through our stage-gated process for commercialisation and consequently licensing IP to existing companies and setting up new spin-out companies.
Considering this month we celebrate International Women’s Day, what are your thoughts on any specific challenges faced by women/non-binary entrepreneurs?
This is a topic we’re very much grappling with at the moment as even after taking into account the percentage of women academic and research staff in each Department, there is still a disproportionately low number submitting invention disclosures on our Inventor Portal (if any women would like to prove me wrong!).
The team recently convened an informal meeting with staff in Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), to try to get an idea of what the challenges might be, without prejudging or imposing solutions, but there were as many different opinions as there were individuals attending.
Some are easy to dispel: we hear from individuals of all genders that they are not interested in ‘making money’, but they usually mean not profiting personally. When we point out that the commercial income the University shares with its inventors can be re-invested in research, or used for social impact, this barrier to entrepreneurship often melts away. It’s worth noting that the University has a very generous income disbursement policy, see page 12 of the University IP & Commercialisation policy.
Other challenges included not wanting to upset a hard-won work-life balance and wanting to perfect inventions before disclosing them to the University.
One consensus of opinion was that potential inventors would like to hear from individuals who had benefitted from our IP & Commercialisation Policy, some through involvement in spin-out companies, but others from just recognising the commercial potential of their IP.
So, our next step is to form a cohort of future and current inventors, to learn alongside them as they progress through the IP & Commercialisation team’s stage-gated process and perhaps be able to offer individualised support and even funding to overcome the challenges that each person experiences.
If you’re interested in joining this cohort, please get in touch by emailing ipmanager@strath.ac.uk. We don’t want to exclude anyone: gender is of course only one aspect of diversity and inclusion, so if you’re interested in exploring this with us, you’ll be very welcome.
What inspired you to pursue the career you are in now?
As you have read, it wasn’t exactly planned, but I really enjoy being in the middle of academic invention and puzzling out the best way for it to generate impact. And when that reaches the stage of a negotiation, I love the often-overlooked crucial factor, which is establishing trust with the other party – sometimes easy, sometimes extremely challenging.
What dance move are you secretly AMAZING at?
I used to be able to do some seriously cool ballet moves (no, really), but they are very unlikely to ever see the light of day again.
