The Research Adventure Podcast

#27 Maggie Raykova: How an industry-funded PhD project led to an exciting spinout opportunity

In this episode, we meet Maggie Raykova, founder and venture lead at Rapisense, a pre‑spinout from the University of Strathclyde that’s developing biosensors to help the dairy industry test raw milk for contaminants. Maggie’s journey with Rapisense started as a collaborative PhD project with industry partners. Following the successful completion of the PhD, there was clear commercial potential and Maggie decided to embark on the journey of launching a spinout.  Maggie shares her journey, including how she pivoted away from a lab‑proven but commercially challenging chemistry,  built a three‑person core team to develop the venture, and used programmes like iCURe and the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship to deepen her market understanding and develop her leadership skills.  She talks about the value of  mapping the entire dairy supply chain, conducting field trials in real-world conditions, and the process of moving from grant funding to private investment. If you’re interested in transforming university research into a commercial venture, this conversation offers fantastic insight on what the journey is like from someone who is living it as we speak.

#26: Matias Acosta: Why finding the right problem matters more than having the right solution

In this episode of The Research Adventure Podcast we meet Dr Matias Acosta, CEO and founder of CosySense, a high-growth impact-focused startup, transforming commercial buildings into smarter, cleaner, more comfortable spaces. Matias’ journey is anything but ordinary. He grew up in Argentina, completed his PhD in Germany, did research stints in Japan and Cambridge, and wrote highly cited scientific papers from hostels while backpacking around the world. He then moved into a UN accelerator lab before realising he wanted to build solutions himself, not just support others.  The spark for CosySense came during a period of enforced “nomadism” during the pandemic when kept finding himself either freezing or overheating in countless cafes and co-working spaces. Matias shares how he has built CosySense as a true impact venture, with a business model where customers only pay if they save, impact investors who track CO2 reductions, and why effective climate‑positive solutions must also be all around superior products.  Matias explains how his academic experience translated to the startup world, the key mindset shift from academia to startup life and why execution is more important than having a good initial idea. This is genuinely a one-of-a-kind story that brings together adventure, execution and impact.

#25 Olga Kozlova: Why early career researchers can be a powerful driver for commercialising university research

In this episode of The Research Adventure Podcast we meet Dr Olga Kozlova, Director of Innovation and Engagement at the University of Oxford, where she leads the work to make Oxford and Oxfordshire a globally leading innovation ecosystem. Olga shares her journey from founding a biotech startup through a Royal Society of Edinburgh enterprise fellowship, building and running Converge, Scotland's cross-university company creation programme, and leading innovation and industry engagement at the University of Strathclyde. She explains why Oxford still needs more capital despite its global reputation, why the pipeline from early-stage pre-seed through to scale-up is the biggest challenge for deep tech commercialisation in the UK, and why investing in early career researchers is one of the  highest-leverage commercialisation investments a university can make. Olga explores the difference between mentorship and sponsorship, why sponsorship is so valuable, what it would take to significantly increase the number of female founders and female investors, and why this is so important.  This episode is essential listening for anyone working to build or improve a university commercialisation ecosystem. I hope you get as much out of this conversation as we did.

#24 Zach & Rachel: Discussing their top ten takeaways & insights from Season 3

In this end-of-season episode, Zach and Rachel reflect on the biggest insights from Season 3 of The Research Adventure Podcast. They explore what it really takes to step into an entrepreneurial identity as a researcher — from talking to investors early and broadening networks, to knowing when to step aside from a venture and why that takes just as much courage as starting one. The conversation covers proactive vs reactive TTOs, the surprising power of publishing as a commercialisation strategy, the stark gap between lab and field, and why long-term ecosystem thinking matters more than short-term wins. The episode closes with a theme that ran through every conversation this season: entrepreneurship for researchers isn't a reinvention, it's an evolution. Nobody they talked to planned to be there, but the ones who leaned in discovered they were more ready than they thought.

#23 Ash Stott: How voluntary redundancy, a couple slides and a £50 prototype launched a deep tech startup

In this episode of The Research Adventure Podcast we speak with Ash Stott, CEO and Co-founder of Rhizo PTX, a deep-tech startup developing scalable systems for producing green ammonia. Ash shares his journey from physics PhD to founder, via industry experience in hydrogen technologies, and reflects on the moment he chose to leave a secure role to build something of his own. He describes how a £50 garage prototype helped secure early investment, even before the technology was fully proven, and why small, focused teams can often move faster than large organisations. The conversation explores the value of industry experience for first-time founders, the importance of engaging investors early, and how a single conversation reshaped their go-to-market strategy. Ash also outlines his long-term vision for green ammonia, from bench-top systems to containerised solutions and ultimately global impact.