Hi, I’m Mairi!

I’m Mairi Gibbs - Chief Operating Officer, Oxford University Innovation  

A bit about my KE career…

I was appointed as COO at Oxford University Innovation in 2021, after ten years running the operational activities across the business and eight years before that in hands-on technology transfer, working with University researchers on IP and spinouts. 

I started out as a chemist and spent a few years in industry running a small research team after my PhD. 

For me, KE has been a fascinating and rewarding ride.  The world of KE is ever-changing so it’s a good thing I like change management. Stakeholder management is another essential skill, alignment is just as important within the institution as it is with external partners. It’s been brilliant to see the profile of KE increase over the years and to see university technologies playing a huge role in the pandemic response.  I came into KE in 2002 looking for a way to use my science to do something useful that didn’t involve being in a lab, and years later I still find inspiration in our impact mission.
 

Something you might not know about me…

I’m a keen amateur violinist and my lockdown project through 2020 was to learn some music by Bach that I’d never mastered. He makes everything better. This music was written in 1720, three hundred years ago exactly, so as well as being a good project, it was a sort of anniversary celebration and a connecting thread through time to all the other musicians who also wrangled with those notes. Apart from music I love to hike and spend time with my family – my two sons are reliably loud, energetic, and very funny.

What I get out of teaching on PraxisAuril courses… 

It’s fun and rewarding to help build capacity in our sector. I get a real buzz out of the ‘lightbulb moment’ when you see someone understand something for the first time, and I always find it interesting to hear from delegates about how KE activities work at their institution.  Being involved in the training has also been really great for building relationships with colleagues at other institutions.

A little story about me…

One of the more rewarding moments of my career in KE was a sunny summer party for the employees of a company I’d spun out a few years earlier. It really brought home the impact of the role, seeing all those families supported by jobs that didn’t exist before the spinout. The company is still going strong and, through incredible hard work by those involved, bears no resemblance now to the fragile fledgeling that it was when I was originally involved with it. More recently I worked on Oxford’s equity framework and express licence, helping to implement Oxford’s investment partnership with OSI. These changes have enabled Oxford to spinout around 20 companies a year since OSI.

My courses: