John King

Engentia
Enterprise Lab
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey
TW20 0EX

Friday, 4 July 2014


To whom it may concern

RE: Reference for Gavin Harper

Gavin designs and delivers half-day enterprise and collaboration workshops for PhD students,
post-docs, and new lecturers as part of Engentias academic collaboration training programme,
Open.

Through his practical experience, Gavin has developed the ability to communicate complex
technical information derived from his own research effectively to a range of audiences, including
both science and arts/humanities students and academic staff. He is able to make his knowledge
simple and accessible by demonstrating a range of communication styles, including clear and
concise verbal and written delivery, the use of graphics, and through practical demonstrations.

Gavin has a particular talent for extracting the most important and relevant parts of highly technical
documents, derived from basic research, and communicating them effectively through the
simultaneous use of multiple media. For instance, he was able to impart sufcient information to
students to enable them to design and build a rocket using mostly household items in no more than
10 minutes. Once the practical exercise was completed, Gavin was able to help student put their
practical learning back in to a theoretical context by helping students to make connections between
their practical experience and theories of team working drawn from psychology and organizational
studies.

Gavins ability to move from theory to practice and back whilst keeping ideas simple and
accessible is a rare skill and should be encouraged. Complex ideas can be simply communicated. I
have no doubt that Gavin would bring his unique perspective and skills to the HEA Fellowship and
could contribute greatly as a Fellow.

Yours faithfully,






John King
Director, Engentia