Wednesday, 01 November 2023
Project leaders from the University of Nottingham have scooped a double win at a prestigious awards ceremony that celebrates collaboration between academia and businesses and highlights the positive impact of research on real-world challenges.
The university’s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) team, along with two KTP Associate embedded in businesses, picked up gongs at the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership Awards in the distinguished Future Leaders category.
KTP Associates Leonardo Rodrigues, analyst and web developer for XAIS Asset Management Limited, and Alexandra Spencer, data scientist at Gleeds Cost Management Limited, each won awards in the Future Leaders category, which recognises KTP Associates who have demonstrated excellence in leadership, project management and delivery of innovative projects, contributing to the strategic goals of their organisations.
The unique arrangement of KTP sees university employees embedded in a business or not-for-profit organisation to manage a project, lasting anywhere from 12 months to three years; while they are technically managed and paid by the university, they work day-to-day for their respective businesses. By doing so, they bridge the gap between the two worlds, working like any other employee, but applying specialist research knowledge and skills that ultimately benefit both parties.
Leonardo Rodrigues at the award ceremony
Leonardo’s host business, XAIS Asset Management Limited, is an IT consultancy pecializing in asset management solutions for local authorities, highway network operators and international transport organisations. Meanwhile, Alexandra Spencer’s organisation, Gleeds Cost Management Limited, is a global, independent construction and property consultancy renowned for providing expert management, advisory, and cost-effective solutions across the built environment. Both individuals are an extension of Nottingham’s KTP team and apply and embed research findings in the real world, enabling the practical application of knowledge gained through extensive research by their respective academic supervisors.
KTP Associate Leonardo Rodrigues, whose background is in civil engineering, joined XAIS Asset Management in March 2022 to design, develop and embed a tool to predict the future needs for maintenance of infrastructure assets, prioritising small preventive actions rather than large and expensive emergency repairs. With an acute understanding of the challenges local authorities face, Leonardo bridged a three-way gap between those authorities, university researchers, and developers, to implement a robust user-friendly platform that allows for risk-based analysis, optimising maintenance costs and improving decision-making.
Receiving the Future Leader Award in the 2023 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships awards is a tremendous honour. This achievement wouldn't have been possible without the support and guidance of the remarkable individuals at XAIS Asset Management and the University of Nottingham. In particular, Associate Professor Luis Neves has played a pivotal role in my success, offering exceptional mentorship and his friendship, which has been instrumental in helping us achieve the project's objectives.
Leonardo’s innovative approach and commercial awareness enabled him to create a fit-for-purpose commercial solution and has seen him recognised among commercial and academic communities alike. A paper based on his research was presented at the Eighth International Symposium on Life-Cycle Engineering (IALCCE 2023), which took place this summer in Milan, Italy, and has subsequently been published in the symposium proceedings, “Life-Cycle of Civil Engineering Systems.”
L-R Philippa Ryan, Knowledge Transfer Adviser covering Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire; Alexandra Spencer; KTP Associate; Andrea McCluskey, Business Development Officer for KTP, University of Nottingham
Meanwhile, KTP Associate Alexandra Spencer, an expert in data science, joined Gleeds in April 2022 and has made a significant impact to the organisation in such a short space of time. Her exceptional leadership skills have enabled her to manage team members effectively, whilst fostering a collaborative work environment.
Alexandra’s creativity and openness to experimentation has led her to surpass expectations creating new opportunities for growth and expansion by embedding better data and AI practices into Gleeds’ business model, by not only developing an AI powered cost prediction tool but also the Extract app, designed to accelerate Gleeds’ data collection process.
She said: “Our projects are quite unique in their nature – there are a lot of ups and downs. You can go down different paths based on what you think are reasonable assumptions, only for it to lead nowhere, and sometimes you feel like you've failed. But I say to my team, ‘We haven't failed, we've just learned what not to do’. And sometimes that's a lot more valuable. I feel like lessons are crucial when it comes to project management.
The thing you always have control over is your perception; how you choose to view that situation and how you choose to react to it. It’s made an amazing difference in my team – ever since I've been implementing this mindset we've gone from strength to strength. Everyone's excited and the future looks amazing.
Hannah Prydderch KTP Manager at the University of Nottingham, said: “A huge congratulations to Leonardo, Alexandra and KTP colleagues on their achievements and to all finalists and winners at this year's Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership Awards.”
You can watch the full Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Awards ceremony on the Innovate UK website – skip to 40m:47s to see the Future Leaders Award winners receive their awards from Steve Welch, Director of Place, Skills and Knowledge Transfer, Innovate UK KTN.
Story credits
More information is available from Sarah Connor at sarah.connor@nottingham.ac.uk or; Danielle Hall, Media Relations Manager at the University of Nottingham, at danielle.hall@nottingham.ac.uk or 0115 846 7156.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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