REAlab supports universities and doctoral training centres, SMEs and organisations in the public and private sector to create innovation and impact in the wider community. We broker connections between academia and industry and deliver learning programmes that embed skills development training in project and consultancy skills with the delivery of high-quality consultancy projects tailored to the challenges faced by organisations and the communities they serve.
Since 2014 we have worked with a variety of organisations to create sustainable development and address wider societal challenges such as the environment, gender equality, inclusive education.
We also work alongside individual organisations, current and prospective postgraduate and post-doctoral researchers to support them in project design, project management and writing grant and funding applications.
Get in touch to discuss how REALab can support your organisation to create innovation through research.
Dr. Rosalinda Quintieri
Founder and Director
Former art historian and published author, Rosalinda is an international researcher developer, Higher Education consultant in research partnerships and facilitator. She founded REAlab in 2014 while doing her own PhD at the University of Manchester, with the aim of supporting postgraduate and early career researchers in the creation of meaningful collaborations and professional co-design opportunities with organisations beyond academia. Since 2018 she manages research partnerships and knowledge exchange initiatives for the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP), a consortium of seven Universities funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the North West of England, and the University of Manchester. She created the highly successful Collaboration Labs programme, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, as a REAlab affiliate programme at the University of Manchester, where her work was recognised with a Commended Award for Social Responsibility and an Exceptional Performance Award in 2021. She brings over 15 years of professional experience working in the cultural sector, training and development and academia, to the design and implementation of innovative solutions for researcher development and mutually beneficial partnerships between academia and the wider society. As Director, she leads on all aspects of programme design and delivery, collaborating each year with highly qualified training consultants, executive coaches and marketing specialists to bring to life the different modules that create the REAlab experience.
Collaborators
Yvonne McLean
Training Consultant
Yvonne is a management trainer and coach with more than 15 years experience in the voluntary and public sectors in a variety of senior roles. She is the founder and lead consultant of Inkling Training and Coaching, which aims to equip people with tangible and effective management tools and developing core psychological competencies in order to increase individual and organisational capability. For REAlab she is lead workshop facilitator on project management skills.
George Konstantakopoulos
Training Consultant
George is Business Innovation Lead at FutureEverything, an award-winning innovation lab and cultural social enterprise established in 1995, which has helped shape the emergence of digital culture in Europe. George facilitates workshops to shape collaborations between the Arts, Industry and Academia and is also a mentor and a coach in shaping ideas to create practical solutions. He is the founder of Manchester Social Entrepreneurs. George is lead workshop facilitator on the Innovation Labs as part of the Collaboration Labs programme.
Jessica Symons
Coaching Consultant
Jessica is an anthropologist and creative digital consultant with over 25 years experience across public, private and third sectors, as a researcher in the University of Manchester and as an IT consultant in large multinationals, SMEs and startups. She now runs her own creative digital studio and innovation consultancy, Visioning Lab, which specialises in creative development, new technologies and developing ideas into projects. Jessica is as academic reviewer and coach as part of the Collaboration Labs programme.
Suzanne Spicer
Training Consultant
Suzanne is working on The University of Manchester’s innovative social responsibility strategic change initiative. Originally a secondary geography teacher, Suzanne spent over twenty years working in museum and heritage learning gaining extensive experience of working with the public. Suzanne is also joint author of the Vitae ‘The Engaging Researcher’ booklet. She is an Associate of the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement and regularly delivers national evaluation training. She has collaborated with REALab as lead workshop facilitator on project evaluation and research impact.
Dee-Ann Johnson
Training Consultant
Dee-Ann works at The University of Manchester where she is responsible for delivering learning and development interventions to early career researchers and senior academics across a range of professional skills, most notably in the areas of communication, public engagement, leadership, networking, and career development. She is also a qualified executive coach, and is regularly invited by Vitae and UK funding bodies including The Royal Society, and the Nuffield Foundation to facilitate and deliver training and development initiatives. Dee-Ann has collaborated with REALab as lead workshop facilitator on communication, negotiation and stakeholder engagement.
REAlab 