Professor Eleanor Shaw, OBE is an Associate Principal with responsibility for External Engagement and Partnerships.

As a member of the of the Executive Team, Eleanor works with colleagues across the University to support Strathclyde’s vision to be a leading international technological university, that is socially progressive, by developing collaborative relationships with entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial communities and policy makers. Key to her work is ensuring that, as a place of useful learning, Strathclyde contributes to regional, national and international ecosystems through its impactful research, and opportunities for students and staff to engage in entrepreneurial learning experiences which support their ventures and develop their entrepreneurial mind sets.

Eleanor is also the Charles Huang Professor of International Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director of the Stephen Young Institute for International Business. The Institute was established following the transformational donation made to the University by alumnus and global business leader Dr Charles Huang from his philanthropic foundation. In this role, a key aspect of her work involves building collaborations between the Institute and leading academic partners, businesses, government departments and third sector organisations across the world.

Eleanor first joined Strathclyde in 2001 and became Head of the Hunter Centre in 2013 before becoming Vice Dean for Knowledge Exchange and Senior Vice Dean of Strathclyde Business School. In January 2020, Eleanor became an Associate Principal and joined the University’s Executive Team. She was appointed Head of the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow (2023-25), before rejoining Strathclyde in 2025 to take up her current role.

Eleanor’s research is focused on the practice of entrepreneurial networking and firm growth. She focuses on entrepreneurial diversity and her work on women’s, graduate, social and creative entrepreneurship is published in leading journals including Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship, Theory & Practice, Human Relations and International Small Business Journal. Eleanor’s research has been funded by the ESRC and EPSRC and a range of private sector organisations and agencies including the Cabinet Office.

Eleanor is an inclusive entrepreneurial leader with more than 25 years of experience of enhancing business growth and is passionate about using her knowledge, expertise, and networks to unlock entrepreneurial potential across Scotland’s economy. She is co-designer of the Growth Advantage Programme (GAP) - a leadership and growth programme for ambitious entrepreneurs. GAP has been fully endorsed by the ScaleUp Institute and is one of only two UK leadership programmes to be designed and delivered by faculty and entrepreneurs. Eleanor also leads on the University’s institution-wide entrepreneurship strategy, Strathclyde Inspire, and through her board positions with the Chartered Association of Business Schools and the Small Business Charter, she was influential in securing UK Government funding to design and launch the Help to Grow Programme, which by December 2024, had been delivered to more than 10,000 UK small firms.

Eleanor was awarded an OBE in 2022 in recognition of her services to entrepreneurship and education and is included in both Stanford’s list of the world’s top 2% of scientist and of long term researchers with impact. Complimenting her research and teaching interests, Eleanor is Scottish Chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABs) and sits on the boards of The Gender Index and Pathways Forward. She is also a trustee of the Beatson Cancer Charity and Enable.

Eleanor has an MA and a PhD from the University of Glasgow, is married with two children and lives in Glasgow.

My research on access to, and the effects of entrepreneurial capital on firm growth and success is globally recognised. My research has  identified the unequal access to entrepreneurial resources experienced by under-represented founders, including female founders, and revealed the long term, detrimental impact of this under-capitalisation on the growth of their firms; and highlighted the loss of GDP and job creation consequently experienced by the UK economy. 

My work on entrepreneurial growth, ecosystems and diversity has attracted funding of more than £6.3M from Research Councils, private sector, Enterprise Agencies, and international partners. I publish in all leading peer-reviewed entrepreneurship journals and work with entrepreneurs and partner organisations to translate the implications of her research into viable entrepreneurial policies and practical growth solutions. 

My  work on female funders inspired the UK Government’s Enterprise Strategy (2008) and the subsequent introduction of a £12.5million capital co-investment fund for women. Her research also  informed the design and delivery of the Growth Advantage Programme (GAP) - a practise-focused enterprise education programme which develops the leadership capacity of founders, supporting the scale-up of their ventures.  Under her leadership, GAP has supported 8 cohorts of more than 100 founders to successfully scale their firms, and GAP has been endorsed by the Scale-Up Institute as the only Scottish, and only one of two growth programmes offered by a UK university. 

I established the FinTech Cluster at the University of Strathclyde and remains both a Co-Investigator of the Financial Regulation and Innovation Laboratory as well as a board member of the project in collaboration with FinTech Scotland and the University of Glasgow.

 In 2019 she led on the design and implementation of the only institution-wide entrepreneurship strategy of any Scottish University and one of a handful of UK Higher Education Institutions. Branded as Strathclyde Inspire,  the cornerstones of this strategy are to unlock the entrepreneurial potential of students and staff through exposure to entrepreneurial learning experiences, and entrepreneurial role models.

My research is fosuces on addressing the lived experiences and challenges faced by under-represented entrepreneurs and on identifying the growth limitations of these. As such, my research is focused on key policy areas and on entrepreneurial practices that are relevant to founders and those leading and growing entrepreneurial ventures. I work closely with UK and Scottish Governments and I hold a number of external advisory positions including with: The Gender Index, Pathways Foprward and the ScaleUP Institute. I am an invited Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. I am a NED with Enable, a Trustee of the Beatson Cancer Charitry and a founding member of the Cabinet office Women of Influence Network.

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I am an experienced university leader and non‑executive director whose career has shaped entrepreneurial thought, policy and practice through pioneering innovation, strategic influence, and sustained public impact. With over 29 years’ experience in higher education in the UK and internationally, I have combined senior academic leadership roles with extensive external engagement to shape entrepreneurial practice, policy and education. 

I am passionate about working with students and executive clients to help them realise their entrepreneurial potential. My teaching is research-informed and focusd on issues and topics relevant and of interest to students and entrepeneurial leaders. I use a variety of tecahign approaches and assessment methods and believe that reflectiev learning is a powerful method of encouraging students and participants to fultl enagge in their learnign journey. I am expecially interested in the employability of students and on supporting their acquisition of the metaskils demanded by employers.