Caroline Cantley

Dr Caroline Cantley, Executive Director of the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe)

Dr Caroline Cantley is the Executive Director of the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (www.srpe.ac.uk) the Pan-Scotland academic research partnership comprised of ten universities engaged in world-class engineering research.

Caroline’s career spans both industry and academia, focused on engineering, technology-based business and research. Her current role, as Executive Director of SRPe, involves providing leadership and strategic direction to the creation of critical mass in engineering in Scotland to help attract investment, leading researchers, industrial engagement, skills development and entrepreneurship and promote Scotland's strengths within the globalised world economy. Her previous experience covers a broad spectrum of roles including providing technical consultancy advice and services to energy clients around the globe and on ground breaking collaborative multi-national projects such as the University of Glasgow Institute for Gravitational Research programme developing the LIGO gravitational wave detector network in the US.

Her focus is on the creation of value for the Scottish economy working closely with industry and the public sector / Scottish Government to drive increased research excellence, socio-economic impact and strategic skills development in areas critical to the future prosperity of Scotland and the UK.

She is Chartered Physicist; a Member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council of the Scottish Government; a Member of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee for the Scottish Funding Council; a Member of the Higher Education and Industry STEM Coordination Group for Education Scotland; a Member of the Council of Photonics Scotland; and Vice-Chair of the Physics Industrial Advisory Board of the University of the West of Scotland.

Caroline graduated from the University of Glasgow with a BSc (1^st Hons) in Physics with Geology and a PhD in Experimental Physics in the field of gravitational wave detection (Vibration Isolation and Feedback Control Systems for Laser Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors).