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

#30 Vanissa Wanick: How an Arts & Humanities spinout has become a powerful vehicle for driving knowledge exchange

In this episode, we meet Vanissa Wanick, senior lecturer in Interaction Design and co-founder of Nucleolus, a spin-out games studio from the University of Southampton. Nucleoulus was founded by a group of like-minded academics and together they design and build  meaningful, player-centred experiences, from games that solve health-care challenges to increasing citizen engagement. Vanissa’s path is different from most academics. She started as a designer in Rio de Janeiro, worked in industry, completed an MBA in marketing, and then earned a PhD in Advergaming. Vanissa shares practical thinking on turning research into products people actually use and how to leverage your institution’s commercialisation support systems rather than feeling the need to be an expert in everything. She speaks openly about the challenges and opportunities of commercialisation in Arts & Humanities, why the word “commercialisation” is off-putting for many researchers, and how formally establishing a company has created a powerful vehicle for delivering impact.    This episode is a great reminder that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to commercialising university research.  I hope you get as much out of this conversation as we did.

#29 Matt Freeman: Why the future of university commercialisation is less about spinning out and more about spinning with

In this episode, we meet Matt Freeman, Centre Director at FutureSpace, the University of the West of England's innovation centre, where he works to bring academia and industry together to drive innovation and business growth. Matt's perspective is shaped by having lived on both sides of the divide, a decade as an academic, a university spinout founder, and now leading an innovation centre that embeds high-tech businesses into the heart of a university campus. He shares how he came to see commercialisation as a behaviour change challenge, not a knowledge problem, how FutureSpace packages up the university assets into products and services businesses actually need, and why he believes the future is less about spinning out and more about spinning with. We also explore the book he's writing on the translation gap, why the same questions are being asked by academia and industry and what it takes to facilitate effective collaborations. This episode is essential listening for anyone working at the interface between universities and industry.

#28 Rob Young: How Quantum Base became the first Lancaster University spinout listed on the London Stock Exchange

In this episode, we meet Professor Rob Young, quantum physicist and CSO and co‑founder of Quantum Base, a university spinout on a mission to tackle counterfeiting at a global scale.  Rob’s journey starts with a childhood dream of being an inventor in a shed, leading to a degree in physics at Oxford, a PhD  at Cambridge, and then a Royal Society fellowship at Lancaster University, which gave him the freedom to pursue practical quantum technologies and develop Quantum Base.  In our conversation, Rob explains how Quantum Base moved from lab demos to more than 1 billion of their QIDs being used globally,  the long and hard work of aligning technical performance with user behaviour and commercial reality, why Quantum Base chose to raise funding with angels investors and then an IPO over traditional VC funding, and what it means to be the first Lancaster University spin‑out listed on the London Stock Exchange.  This is a true spinout success story and is filled with fantastic insights about the company-building process as well as the personal journey of a founder.

#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.