Patricia was Director of NNECL from August 2020 to July 2023. She has spent most of her career in higher education advocacy and policy development, including seven years as Chief Executive of GuildHE, the representative organisation for specialist and smaller higher education institutions. During that period she played a key role in securing changes to the award of university title. From 2007-2011, Patricia was an Associate Director at SQW Consulting, leading much of the company’s higher education research and evaluation work. In this role, she directed a diverse range of projects covering topics such as widening participation, graduate employability, teaching and learning enhancement, language learning, internationalisation, governance and sustainable development. She was Deputy Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, an independent research organisation and membership charity from 2012-2020.