³Ô¹Ïtv

Eleanor Shaw

OBE FAcSS MA PhD

Associate Principal External Engagement & Partnerships

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Personal statement

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 ³Ô¹Ïtv’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, ³Ô¹Ïtv 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 ³Ô¹Ïtv in 2001 and became Head of the Hunter Centre in 2013 before becoming Vice Dean for Knowledge Exchange and Senior Vice Dean of ³Ô¹Ïtv 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 ³Ô¹Ïtv 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, ³Ô¹Ïtv 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.

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Contact

eleanor.shaw@strath.ac.uk

Eleanor Shaw
Associate Principal External Engagement & Partnerships

Email: eleanor.shaw@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 0141 548 4259

Professor Eleanor Shaw

OBE FAcSS MA PhD

Assoc Principal Ext Engage Partnerships

³Ô¹Ïtv Business School

Contact

Personal statement

Professor Eleanor Shaw, OBE is an Associate Principal with responsibility for the University’s entrepreneurship strategy, '³Ô¹Ïtv Inspire'. She is also Director of ³Ô¹Ïtv Doctoral School. Eleanor joined ³Ô¹Ïtv in 2001 and became Head of the Hunter Centre in 2013. She has been Vice Dean for Knowledge Exchange and Senior Vice Dean of ³Ô¹Ïtv Business School. In January 2020, Eleanor became an Associate Principal and joined the University’s Executive Team. 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. She is Co-I of the ESRC-funded ProPEL Hub (Productivity Outcomes of workplace Practice, Engagement and Learning) - a major new initiative designed to support improvements in productivity through enhanced workplace practice and employee engagement that is also supported by CIPD. Eleanor is an inclusive entrepreneurial leader with more than 25years of experience of enhancing business growth. She is co-designer of the Growth Advantage Programme (GAP) - a leadership and growth programme for ambitious entrepreneurs. GAP was recently fully endorsed by the ScaleUp Institute and is one of only two UK leadership programmes to be designed and delivered by faculty and entrepreneurs. Complimenting her research and teaching interests, Eleanor sits on the Council of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABs), the Small Business Charter (SBC) Management Board, the People, Talent and Leadership Committee, ScaleUp Institute and is a trustee of the Beatson Cancer Charity.

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Prize And Awards

Recipient
11/11/2015
Recipient
11/11/2015
Recipient
2012
Recipient
2008

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Publications

, , ,
Institute for Small Business and Enterprise (ISBE) Conference (2025)
, Lall Saurabh, Sahasranamam Sreevas, Mwaura Samuel, ,
The Gender Index 2025 (2025) (2025)
Sahasranamam Sreevas, Lall Saurabh, Nicolopoulou Katerina,
British Journal of Management Vol 35, pp. 519-536 (2024)
Slater Aaron, , , , Mwaura Samuel
(2023)
Yamamura S, ,
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development Vol 34, pp. 828-851 (2022)
,
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice Vol 45, pp. 1496-1521 (2021)

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Teaching

I am passionate about working with students to help them realise their entrepreneurial potential. I enjoy teaching entrepreneurial marketing which offers an alternative view on how small, entrepreneurial firms can engage with their customers often by initially discovering an innovation or product or service improvement. I lead the final year class on Issues and Trends in Entrepreneurship which explores key changes in the environment and discusses with students the implications of these for entrepreneurial firms. I also teach on various research methods classes particularly advising on qualitative methodologies and the design and analysis of case studies.

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Research Interests

My research interests lie in the area of entrepreneurial capital, creative industries, entrepreneurial diversity and firm growth. I am interested in engaged research which is of value to teaching, engagement with small and entrepreneurial firms and relevant to informing the development of economic and social policy in the areas of enterprise, innovation and creativity. Most recently I have been researching entrepreneurial philanthropy: the active redistributin of wealth by entrepreneurs for socially and environmentally motivated purposes.

Professional Activities

Chair
4/11/2025
Visiting researcher
30/10/2018
Visiting researcher
19/9/2018
Contributor
15/1/2016
Invited speaker
12/11/2015
Chair
23/1/2015

Projects

Cummins, Mark (Principal Investigator) Basu, Devraj (Co-investigator) Bowden, James (Co-investigator) Shaw, Eleanor (Co-investigator) Tapinos, Efstathios (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
Cummins, Mark (Principal Investigator) Basu, Devraj (Co-investigator) Bowden, James (Co-investigator) Revie, Matthew (Co-investigator) Shaw, Eleanor (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2023 - 31-Jan-2025
Wurth, Bernd (Principal Investigator) Mawson, Suzanne (Co-investigator) Shaw, Eleanor (Co-investigator)
11-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2022
Shaw, Eleanor (Principal Investigator) Wilson, Juliette (Co-investigator)
19-Jan-2020 - 20-Jan-2020
Lindsay, Colin (Principal Investigator) Findlay, Patricia (Co-investigator) Loeffler, Elke (Co-investigator) Roy, Graeme (Co-investigator) Shaw, Eleanor (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2024
Shaw, Eleanor (Principal Investigator) Ates, Aylin (Academic)
Creating and sustaining a competitive advantage has become increasingly difficult in an ever-changing and dynamic environment. Businesses need to be adept at strategic thinking and strategic analysis and find ways to enhance impact, value and performance. This Masterclass taught approximately 25 business owners and entrepreneurs the tools and techniques to stay ahead of the game.
20-Jan-2019 - 19-Jan-2021

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Contact

Professor Eleanor Shaw
Assoc Principal Ext Engage Partnerships
³Ô¹Ïtv Business School

Email: eleanor.shaw@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 4259