Prof Stephen Syrett

Stephen is Professor of Local Economic Development and DeputyDean Research and Knowledge Exchange for the Faculty of Business and Law. Hisresearch specialises in issues of local, urban and regional economicdevelopment, governance and policy, and small business research, withparticular reference to immigrant business, social enterprise, home-basedbusiness, and the role of enterprise in regenerating deprived areas. He haspublished extensively on these topics including books, journal articles and policyand practice reports. Across multiple funded research projects. Stephen hasworked with a wide range of national, regional and local government bodies inthe UK and Europe, including government departments and the EuropeanCommission, as well as voluntary and community sector and private sectororganisations.

A leader in research and knowledge exchange, Stephen has atrack record of high quality, impactful research and working closely withexternal partners. Previously as Director of the Centre for Enterprise andEconomic Development Research, he was responsible for all aspects ofmanaging and leading this major university research centre. CEEDR provided sixhighly rated impact case studies across the Business and Management submissionsto REF2014 and REF2021 consistently generating up to 80 per cent of researchfunding earnt by Middlesex University Business School.

As Business School Director of Research Stephen subsequentlyled the School’s REF2021 Business and Management submission, the largest inMiddlesex University, which attained the outstanding achievement of a numberone ranking nationally for the social impact of its research. This achievement resultedfrom building a strong research team and related infrastructure and puttingcentre-stage support for researcher development via mentoring, seedcornfunding, research time allowances, writing bootcamps, research clusterdevelopment, and funding and impact workshops.

This work is now being built upon in Stephen’s current role as DeputyDean of Research and Knowledge Exchange for the Faculty of Business and Law.Activity here focuses on developing the research and knowledge exchangemanagement and support infrastructure for the Faculty and enhancing PhD study, throughmembership of the ESRC funded SENSS social science Doctoral TrainingPartnership, alongside the growth of our Professional Doctorates provision.