Dr Helen Mullen
- Spinouts Census Manager and Microfinancing Adviser (Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Engagement)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5031-0865Biography
Dr Helen Mullen completed her PhD in Management (Entrepreneurship) from the University of Glasgow having gained a studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Helen also has a PgDip and MRes (Research Methodology in Business and Management) and a First-Class BA (Hons) in Marketing, with awards in marketing and international marketing, from the University of Strathclyde.
Helen was a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School from 2019- 2023 where she was the Dissertation Coordinator for the MSc Financial Technology (fintech), Academic Lead (Management) for Assurance of Learning, Representative (Management) on the Business School's Responsible Sustainable Management Group, and a member of the Connections with Practice Committee.
Helen also managed and implemented teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level with a focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship, and incorporating experiential learning, employability, and games-based learning. She initiated a number of activities to support student engagement with industry and third sector organisations including work-based projects, mentoring, and specialist masterclasses.
Helen has initiated, secured funding for, and managed a number of cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional projects supporting engagement with industry and the third sector. Recent projects have involved collaborations with academics across social sciences, engineering and the arts and humanities, and external industry and academic institutions, to implement projects relating to fintech, videogames, entrepreneurial ecosystems, SHAPE commercialisation, and business models.
Helen's research relates to small business and entrepreneurship, especially business growth, innovation, and business models within the creative and digital industries. Her Masters research examined the cluster evolution and entrepreneurial genealogy of the videogame industry in Scotland; while her doctoral studies investigated the experiences of videogame development studios transitioning from subcontractor/work for hire business models to proprietary intellectual property creation and commercialisation.
Throughout her academic activities, Helen has continued to engage with industry and the third sector. This has included an ESRC-funded internship with Creative England, a publicly funded organisation supporting Film, Television, Games and Digital & Creative Services in the English regions outside London; the videogame-based Creative Territories network of industry and academia; and several specialist consultancy projects relating to business and sector development.
Prior to academia, Helen was a management consultant for over 20 years specialising in innovation and commercialisation. This included being part of the management teams of two startup/early stages specialist consultancy companies, where she held senior business development and consultancy roles. Helen has been involved in innovation, technology transfer, and company development across a range of sectors, managing projects for Scottish Enterprise, the European Commission, Scottish Government and various private companies. She latterly specialised in the creative and digital industries, leading projects to support company and sector development including entrepreneurial networks, skills development, pre-investment diligence, and sector evaluations.
Research interests
Helen is a member of the School's Entrepreneurship, Development and Political Economy research cluster.
Areas of expertise:
- Creative and digital industries.
- Business models and business model change.
- Small business growth.
- Industry clusters and ecosystems.
- Enterprise, entrepreneurship and employability-related education.
Grants
2022 - ASPECT - £4,965 (PI). "Games Ecosystem: supporting enterprise and commercialisation in Scotland’s videogames industry." The project investigates Scotland’s games industry from an ecosystem perspective, to identify how such an approach could support entrepreneurship and commercialisation. Collaboration involving the School of Computing Science, University of Stirling, and games industry practitioners.
2022 - ESRC CROSS IAA - £2,939 (PI). "Games Ecosystem engagement workshop." This project engages industry practitioners internationally to investigate good practice in games industry ecosystems, via a collaboration involving the School of Computing Science, the University of Stirling, and games industry practitioners.
2022 - ASPECT - £10,000 (Co-I). "Innovators Assemble: Using gaming and game development to accelerate business engagement, commercialisation and innovation in SHAPE" (INASSEM). This collaboration is led by ASPECT Innovation Fellow, Dr Mark Wong, and involves the Games and Gaming Lab, the John Smith Centre, the School of Computing Science and the Adam Smith Business School.
2020 - ASPECT, £12,000 (Co-I). "How can the Social Sciences Support Fintech Innovation". A collaboration with the University of Bristol to investigate the role of the social sciences in the FinTech sector, and the opportunities for University engagement in FinTech. .
2018 - ESRC Impact Accelerator Award (Knowledge Exchange Placement Fund) and Creative Scotland, £15,700 (Co-I). "Data provision in the Games Industry in Scotland." A cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Adam Smith Business School and the School of Computing Science to identify data-related issues in Scotland's videogame industry.
2018 - ESRC Impact Accelerator Award (User Engagement fund). £4,661 (Co-I). "Business Model change for games development businesses." A cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Adam Smith Business School and the School of Computing Science to disseminate business model-related research findings with the videogame industry.
Supervision
Dr Mullen is not available to supervise PhD projects at this time.
Teaching
Previous
- Dissertation Coordinator: MSc Financial Technology
- Convenor: Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (UG)
- Convenor: Entrepreneurship 2 (Level 2)
- Co-convenor: Integrated Business and Management in Practice (UG Hons)
- Co-convenor: New Venture Planning (UG)
- Professional Practice 5 (Engineering Hons)
- Entrepreneurial Ventures, Management and Growth (UG Hons)
- Delivering Performance (PGT)
- Business Start-up (UG Hons)
- Entrepreneurship (UG Hons)
- Entrepreneurship: New Venture Creation (UG)
Professional activities & recognition
Supplementary
- Industry/academic panel: Currie, C., Martin, J., Mullen, H. and Eadie, W. (2020) Gender In/Equality in a post-Covid Economy: Lessons from the Digital Sector in Scotland. Coming through Covid Sustainably: An Adam Smith Business School Webinar Series, 19 August 2020. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/222504/ Public engagement panel: Mullen, H (2021) UofGEngage 1 - Digital Engagement. University of Glasgow Public Engagement Forum, 5 February 2021 https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/publicengagement/uofgengageforum/uofgengageevents/previousevents/
External engagement
Industry engagement
- 2021 (Concluded): Fintech Roundtable: Facilitating equality, diversity and inclusivity in the FinTech Sector - where can industry and academia make a difference
Research datasets
Additional information
Previous roles
- Representative (Managment Subject), Adam Smith Business School Responsible and Sustainable Management Steering Group
- Academic Lead (Management), Assurance of Learning Group
- Committee Member, Adam Smith Business School Connections with Practice
- Adam Smith Business School Liaison for the College of the Arts
- Advisor of Studies, College of Social Sciences
- Volunteer mentor MCR Pathways
- Volunteer, The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust
- Member, AHRC Creative Territories Network
- Mentor, NESTA funding recipients (digital and creative)
