Academics are routinely encouraged to be more outward facing, collaborate with industry and undertake collaboration to support the impact of their research. Moving between industry and academia can bring deeper understanding and valuable insights and collaborations.

Join Gustav Markkula and Mark Sumner to hear about their respective backgrounds in industry, the move to academia and how they have used their knowledge of industry to continue to collaborate with a range of industry partners to enhance their research and its uptake, to provide advice and consultancy, and to bring added value to the student experience.

Professor Gustav Markkula spent 10 years working in the automotive industry as a systems engineer, project manager and technical specialist. He moved to University of Leeds in 2015 to expand upon research from his PhD, into the mathematical modelling of driver behaviour, undertaken while at Volvo. His research looks at interactions between pedestrians, drivers and vehicles guided by a focus on human perception and action in the world and making road traffic safer. He continues to collaborate with and advise a number of companies

Dr Mark Sumner spent 15 years working in the clothing and fashion retail sector, before moving to the University of Leeds to focus on sustainability in the textile, clothing and fashion industries. His focus remains broad bringing together issues such as textile technology, innovation and consumer behaviour. He draws upon this experience to run the School of Design new Sustainable Fashion undergraduate programme. He continues to be involved with a range of industry, government and national forums as well as providing tailored consultancy.

Insight series: How to navigate between industry and academia