PraxisAuril’s former CEO, Maxine Purdie (Ficarra) has been made an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list for her contribution to knowledge exchange. Maxine led the UK’s national association for KE for 20 years before stepping down in September 2022.
Maxine joined PraxisAuril in the early 2000s and built what would become a ‘must attend’ range of professional development courses for an emerging cohort of knowledge exchange professionals. Annual conferences and member networking events ensured that the value of PraxisAuril membership also lay in its strong community which today includes almost all UK universities, many public and independent research organisations, industry and professional services organisations.
During her tenure, Maxine led a merger first with the advocacy group UNICO in 2009 and in 2017 with AURIL, which was significant for bringing together the ‘tech transfer’ and ‘business liaison’ elements of knowledge exchange as we recognise it today. Her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic saw the company pivot to digital delivery; successfully maintaining a training programme and holding two annual conferences online through challenging times when KE was more important than ever.
CEO of PraxisAuril, David Russell commented:
“This award is fantastic recognition not only for Maxine but for knowledge exchange and the UK’s national association for KE professionals.”
Chair of PraxisAuril, Amanda Selvaratnam, said:
“I’m delighted at this recognition for Maxine, for PraxisAuril and for the knowledge exchange community that she did so much to create and sustain.”
