March 7, 2024, by aczht
Laura Bond – From science to Professor of Practice
International Women’s Day 2024
We’re celebrating International Women’s Day throughout the week and highlighting the great work carried out by our female academics, alumni, business partners and students.
About Laura:
Laura Bond is a key member of the delivery team on a number of Executive Education programmes, including Help to Grow: Management, Ultimate Scale Up and Preparing Your Business for Sale. Laura is a scientist by training, having completed her PhD at the University of Nottingham. She started her career at the IP Commercialisation and Investment company, IP Group Limited, building businesses from science-based intellectual property. She subsequently moved to Walgreens Boots Alliance and then back into the Investment management sphere. Laura is now a Non-executive director, Angel investor and also a valued colleague within Nottingham University Business School.
Read about Laura’s career journey and impact within Nottingham University Business School:
International Women’s Day serves as a global platform to acknowledge the achievements of women, while also highlighting the ongoing challenges for gender parity and women’s rights. It’s such a shame that women, who make up 50% of the population, still need to raise this issue in 2024.
The University of Nottingham is already making great strides in this area. It was one of the first University’s to join the Athena Swan Charter, a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research. In 2020, Nottingham University Business School achieved a Bronze award and, in 2023, the University as a whole became the first to achieve the Institutional Gold Award.
My journey with Nottingham University Business School started with being a facilitator and mentor on the Help to Grow: Management programme, the amazing, but very intensive, business growth programme initiated by Rishi Sunak to support the post-COVID recovery of small businesses. Nottingham University Business School was one of the first to deliver the programme and I joined from the start and have remained a committed member of the delivery team ever since. At Nottingham University Business School, this programme is delivered by an amazing team, including the brilliant Nicola Hurley and Hannah Noke, and this couldn’t be achieved without the dedicated support of Nicola Flemming and Sue Cotterill in the Executive Education team. I’ve loved every minute of working with the companies who’ve joined the programme and, at the Introductory sessions, fellow facilitator Tim Elliott and I can’t help but smile as we think about the transformation that these companies will go through over the next 12 weeks.
I then joined the Ingenuity Centre as an Entrepreneur in Residence. The Ingenuity Centre supports the creation of investment-ready ventures that address global issues locally. Terri Holloway and Rachel Bedrock are the powerhouse behind the Centre, whilst our roles as EiR is broadly to mentor, support and encourage people to be amazing. The Impact Report for 2023 launched recently – there’s so much to shout about, so take a look.
Most recently, I took up a post as Professor of Practice within NUBS, not just in Nottingham but at its other campuses in Malaysia and China as well. This is a part-time post that allows me to bring my expertise and experience into the Business School community. It’s my goal to use this time to bring something constructively new to staff and students, not just in finance, entrepreneurship and growth but also looking at creating global impact by exploring new ways to create and grow businesses from the world class research emanating from the school and wider faculty. There is already so much to work with; Isobel O’Neil, Hannah Noke and Meryam Duygan are some of the fantastic examples to shine a light on.
So whilst we have lots of work to do, there is already a really strong culture within the School for supporting and inspiring female staff, students and entrepreneurs. Watch this space!
Help to Grow: Management course
If you’re a senior leader from a small or medium-sized businesses wanting to learn the skills and strategies for resilience and growth, the Help to Grow: Management course may help you develop.
Laura recently supported Help to Grow: Management alumni Izzy Bradley, who is General Manager and Lumini Project Manager at Architects of Air. Read how Izzy’s career journey and how she benefitted from completing the course: Izzy Bradley blog
Professors of Practice
A diverse range of experts bring a wealth of expertise, connections, and knowledge to Nottingham University Business School, enriching our students’ learning journey and bringing fresh perspectives into our research activities. Read more about our Professors of Practice.
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