Lucy Parker

 

I am currently studying for a PhD sponsored by the Ocean Energy Sector as Contribution Towards Carbon Neutrality (OcEn) project at the University of Plymouth https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/centre-for-decarbonisation-and-offshore-renewable-energy/ocen.

Working within an international interdisciplinary team, my studies include a comparative analysis of existing community benefit schemes and also  explore innovative approaches to designing and managing community-centred benefit programmes that better meet the needs of host communities and help ease community opposition to ORE development.

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

My background includes almost three decades working in communications, public affairs and  stakeholder engagement in both private and public sector organisations across Europe and Asia.

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 an energy project in the Russian Far East before returning to Europe to lead internal communications and engagement at an Anglo-Russian energy company in Moscow.

I subsequently returned to the UK and continued to work in the energy industry before taking a break to complete a master’s degree in social anthropology.

Since then, I have spent more than ten years working in higher education in communications and policy roles for the University of Plymouth, HEFCE and the OfS.  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 can also work in Russian and German. 

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’