Joel Ferguson

Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I am a Senior Knowledge Transfer Adviser at Innovate UK Business Connect.

The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) support businesses to engage with expert academic teams on a project-based collaboration delivering sustainable innovation with positive economic impact and additional societal or environmental benefits. I look after businesses supporting their projects with knowledge bases in many parts of the country, and also maintain relationships with a number of designated universities in relation to their participation in the programme.

I graduated with a BSc in Chemistry and Computer Science from Queen’s University Belfast, before completing an MSc in Environmental Sciences. I began my career as a Teaching Company Associate, working in speciality chemical formulation for a small UK chemical company, before spending 12 years developing innovative water and wastewater treatment systems.

I spent around eight years working in technology commercialisation with Ulster University and later the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, where I led the Corporate Services Directorate and established and led a business development team that secured collaborations with businesses and researchers in the UK, Ireland, North America, Middle East and Asia.

I am an inventor on a number of patents, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.