Miss Lucy Parker

I am currently working as a research fellow on an ESRC funded project to co-design, implement and make publicly available an evidence-based and policy-orientated classification of English coastal communities at the University of Plymouth’s Centre for Coastal Communities (CfCC).

My background incudes more than two decades working in communications strategy, stakeholder engagement and policy development in both private and public sector organisations across Europe and Asia. Before moving into higher education, I worked in the energy, telecoms, banking and mining sectors.

I began my career in a global public affairs consultancy before moving into the IT industry in a frontline media role. I then relocated across the globe to work as Head of Communications on a project in the Russian Far East before returning to Europe to lead internal communications and engagement at an Anglo-Russian company in Moscow. I subsequently returned to the UK and was internal communications lead in Europe, Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Asia for BG Group. 

After a career break to complete my Masters degree, I moved into higher education providing maternity cover as head of communications at the University before joining HEFCE as a regional consultant, building and maintaining collaborative stakeholder relationships at executive level with 50 universities and FE colleges in South East England. 

Following the establishment of the Office for Students (OfS), I developed the organisation’s first strategy on free speech, collaborating with the Department for Education, EHRC and others on the development of guidance for the sector on freedom of expression. I have also co-facilitated roundtables and  co-authored a publication on freedom of speech, academic freedom and good campus relations with Advance HE.

Since 2020 I have also been working as a freelance consultant in the HE sector on projects to feed into policy development, support knowledge exchange and also provide more general corporate communications support; this has included the development of a series of research summaries for policy makers available at https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/institutes/sustainable-earth/impact 

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Russian and German Literature from the University of London, a Diploma in Public and Media Relations from the School of Journalism in Cardiff and a Master of Science in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics. I have also completed an executive leadership programme at INSEAD. 

My career to date has involved living and working in the UK, Germany, Russia, Japan, Qatar, Thailand, Singapore and Kazakhstan. I am a native speaker of English, but also speak Russian and German.

 

2015 - London School of Economics, MSc Social Anthropology (awarded the Maurice Freedman Prize for best social anthropology thesis)
2006 INSEAD, Executive Leadership Programme ‘TNK-BP: Creating a World Class Company’
1996–1997 Centre for Journalism Studies, University of Wales, Postgraduate Diploma in Public and Media Relations
1991–1995 School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, BA Hons Russian and German Literature 

I have delivered papers at the following conferences:2011 Intraverse Russia Forum – Week of Internal Communications, Russia, ‘Key trends in the development of internal communications’ (in Russian)
2010 Tunisia Exploration & Production Forum, Tunisia, ‘Safety communications – flipping the triangle’
2007 Fourth Annual Pan-European Internal Communications Summit, Spain - ‘Establishing employee recognition programmes in large Russian companies’