About
Sue is Co-Director of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool and brings extensive expertise in policy development, public service reform, and regional devolution. A highly skilled policy practitioner, Sue has over 20 years of senior leadership experience in local and regional government, where she has led complex, multi-agency programmes and policymaking in economic development, regeneration, and skills. She has played a central role in shaping and delivering place-based policy in Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester. Notably, she coordinated the strategic governance review that led to the establishment of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in 2014, negotiated the skills components of its Devolution Deal, and oversaw the successful devolution of an annual £51 million Adult Skills Budget.
As Co-Director of the Heseltine Institute, Sue leads on civic engagement and strategic partnerships to bridge academic research with local and regional priorities. She is an institutional leader on Place and Innovation, and has built strong relationships with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and local authorities to inform and implement local industrial strategy and growth plans. Sue acts as academic advisor to the Liverpool City Region All Party Parliamentary Group and regularly presents evidence to parliamentarians on city regional policy issues. She represents the University on the Liverpool City Region Office for Public Service Innovation Board and serves in an advisory capacity on the Liverpool City Region Strategic Investment Fund Panel. She regularly contributes comment and analysis on devolution policy and economic growth at regional and national events and is a member of the Devolved and Regional Governance sub-committee for the UK Universities Policy Exchange Network.
Since joining the Heseltine Institute, Sue has secured and delivered research grant and consultancy to address social and economic challenges in place, including from UKRI and the British Academy to engage local communities in policy and research activity. She is currently a co-lead for the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration Liverpool, which is building local research capacity to improve health outcomes, and a co-lead for the multi-disciplinary UKRI funded Civic Health Equity: from Silos to Systems project evaluating the health impact of multiple programmes of social and economic support for households across Liverpool City Region.
Sue is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Place Fellow for the UKRI-funded Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub and an RSA Fellow, helping to drive policy innovation across the UK.