Spotlight on... Lydia Harwood

What is your role and what does it involve?

I’m Head of Knowledge Exchange Strategy, Policy and Reporting in UCL Innovation & Enterprise – quite a mouthful! I look after the development and implementation of UCL’s knowledge exchange strategy and reporting on our progress to government. I’m also responsible for maintaining and supporting the policies that enable innovation activities to flourish (Intellectual Property, Conflicts of Interest, etc.) and for developing ways to foster a culture of knowledge exchange across UCL.

How long have you been at UCL and what was your previous role?

I started at UCL as an undergrad in 2006, left for a few years, but came back in 2012 to take on a role in international student recruitment where I got to travel the world and meet lots of prospective students. That transformed into a market research role, including delivering market analysis on the UCL East programmes, introducing market data into student number planning and tracking UCL’s brand awareness. In 2020, as the world locked down, I made the move into UCL Innovation & Enterprise. It feels like I’ve seen a lot of UCL at this point and met plenty of wonderful people along the way too!

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

I’m really proud of the implementation of the Disclosure of Conflict and Declaration of Interest Policy since 2020. As I joined the team the policy was going through final approvals, and since then we’ve worked to deliver detailed guidance and support for all staff. We’ve developed and implemented mandatory training so everyone at UCL understands how to manage conflicts and have a policy inbox to offer support for more complex concerns. A new feature on Inside UCL means all senior staff can more easily declare their interests, and in the last academic year we saw compliance exceed 90%, a vast improvement from 45% in 2020!

Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list

We’re currently working on the new ‘Creating impact through knowledge exchange’ awards, where we are celebrating successes of UCL staff, students and alumni in their achievements in knowledge exchange and impact activity at UCL. The awards are an opportunity to showcase the breadth of knowledge exchange activity across the institution and will hopefully inspire others to find out more about how knowledge exchange can lead to impact.

We’ve just opened nominations for the awards and have five categories where the UCL community can nominate themselves or colleagues to be recognised for their achievements. Nominations close on Friday 15 November, and all the information on how to submit a nomination can be found on the Creating impact through knowledge exchange awards nomination webpage.

What is your favourite album, film and novel?

Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate – I love his music, he’s a wonderful human and this album immediately transports me to Highway 1 in California, where I listened to it on repeat on a road trip a few years ago.
I enjoy losing myself in a film and it’s hard to pick just one, but I’d probably have to go with Forrest Gump. I love how the narrative is interwoven with American politics and history (two of my favourite topics) in such an easy and enjoyable way.

There are a few books that have left a mark on me after reading and that I often find myself dwelling on. If I had to pick just one it might be The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. It was beautiful and heart-breaking and hard to shake after I’d finished it.

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

What do you call a fast-moving cake? Scone... Both funny and confirms correct pronunciation.

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

Probably the Obamas. And then I’d have to invite my sister, as she’d be livid if I met Michelle and she wasn’t there. And I’m never very good at keeping dinner parties small, so I’d probably end up inviting my closest friends and then the rest of my family would want to come too. At this time of year it would have to be a big thanksgiving meal, marshmallow-sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and all…

What advice would you give your younger self?

I think it would just be to relax a bit. I spent a lot of my younger years worried about what was to come and how I would get there… Looking back I don’t have any regrets and I’m thankful for what I have now and what I had, without necessarily realising it, when I was younger.

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I’m a fairly open book, but I have had a lot of brilliant experiences all around the world. I’ve fed +25 people meals cooked on fires I’ve built myself, I was selected as an Aspiring Young Leader in New Zealand and spent time meeting MPs in their parliament, I took a trip to the Great Wall of China with a cross-bow-fanatic American, I’ve trekked the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia and I've shared a home with black widow spiders and a variety snakes for one summer (thankfully they were in tanks and not loose!)

What is your favourite place?

I really love Seoul, especially in autumn – the trees on the mountains surrounding the city are all a fire-y orange and stunning, the food is incredible, the history of the city is fascinating and the people are so friendly. And they serve coffee in cups made to look like little people wearing hats. What’s not to love?!