As a moral realist I accept principles like "we rise by lifting others" as epistemic truths. Practicing this principle to build my team brings tremendous meaning to my work. To see five of my MSc students transition to the PhD, and under my supervision complete tremendous trials working towards earning their doctorates has been a privilege. I saw my students emotionally shutdown after losing their scholarship funding, being denied access to research sites, perplexed by complex social theory, having their work de-constructed by examiners, and go through the upheaval of having paper after paper rejected. I understood their journeys because I was on a similar one myself. I was present when I was needed to handhold, be a critical friend, push towards excellence and innovation, challenging them to produce work that was nothing short of world class. Sadly, I am a witness to the emotional harm that inept doctoral supervisors can cause to doctoral students – stalling growth or setting unrealisable standards. After a baptism of fire, to see a student of mine appointed Assistant Professor and others having their first papers published or being invited to deliver talks at symposia or to consult with start-up accelerators is very rewarding. And, at graduation to take photos with their families and to have my hand shaken with warmth by a father who has held their breath for years to see their daughter graduate, shows how the impact of emphatic mentoring can extend to whole families, and from there to entire communities.

To succeed in entrepreneurship education cultivate curiosity, be a reflective practitioner and actively seek opportunities to innovate. An ambition of mine has been to democratise our educational offering by amplifying students’ aspirations, and then work to shape these to their socio-cultural landscapes. To do this, I have had to develop an indepth understanding of the start-up context of the variety of developing and emerging nations my students come from. We must be careful about how we calibrate our educational offerings such that these resonate with the lived experiences of our students. In my case, this required de-colonising our curriculum, emphasizing the role of frugal and social innovation, appropriate technology, bootstrapping with effectual thinking, and how cultural and infrastructure barriers influence innovation adoption. To be recognized for impact and contribution, one must hold themselves to the very highest standards. Have this question always at the forefront: “what is my one big idea and contribution?”. This means to think about legacy. As educators we should connect with the rich scholarly tradition within entrepreneurship education. Cultivate relationships with the discipline’s pioneers, and create opportunities to learn from those who have dedicated their lives to create the evidence-base on what works best to help students gain the competencies, and develop the right attitude and behaviours. Challenge conventional wisdom, put difficult questions to experts; and because I am a constuctionist I would say that certain home truths can be reached via logic, intuition, or even science – they emanate dialogically.

I have ambitious plans to advance my praxis by introducing frontier approaches, whilst capturing the effectiveness of these via pedagogic research. I have undertaken a major refresh of the MSc Innovation & Entrepreneurship with the globally renowned Warwick Business School. Hence, new modules including Disruptive Technology & Innovation 2.0, Digital Startup & Business Modelling, and Product Design have been introduced. Students will now have the option to complete an ‘entrepreneurial internship’ at one of our many linked industry partner organizations in lieu of their final project. This gives me confidence that our offering will be in line with their expectations. To add commercial relevance, I have fostered relationships with the Tony Ford Foundation, the Big Issue Magazine, Amazon, Ford and others who supply ‘innovation problems’ for our students to solve and are invited for assessment. A focus moving forward would be enhancing our data-driven approach to track student competencies using EntreComp. A new system has been designed to collect competency data, starting at a baseline and then at designated intervals, linked to significant learning points in the modules we run. This will not only enable more personalized feedback to students, but also allow module teaching teams to gauge which modules and what specific activities within these create the most competency gains in students. In essence, my future work revolves around creating a transformative learning experience that not only empowers students but also positively impacts the wider community. I aim to push the boundaries of what entrepreneurship education can achieve.