SHAPE Innovation With Vicky McGuinness

Hi Vicky, please tell us about yourself and your role and give us a little bit of your background prior to joining King's.

My name is Vicky, and I am absolutely thrilled to be back at King's, 25 years after doing my undergraduate degree in Classical Archaeology here! It feels a bit like coming home. My new role supporting SHAPE-led research innovation brings together so many of the things I have loved throughout my career: working with people from across different disciplines, connecting ideas inside and outside the University, and helping to make exciting collaborations happen.

After King's, I went on to do a Master's and PhD in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, and I've worked in all sorts of environments from research and higher education to the commercial and consultancy sectors. For the past 18 years, I was at the University of Oxford, most recently as Head of Public Engagement in the Humanities, where I also ran TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities), an amazing interdisciplinary research community.

I am really excited to be taking on this new innovation role at King's. It's a brilliant opportunity to work with SHAPE researchers and support them in developing their ideas, building partnerships, and exploring innovative ways their research can make a real-world impact.

SHAPE? People are probably thinking "oh no, not another acronym." What's this one about, why is it important to link these disciplines, and why should King's researchers be excited?

I agree, but this one is useful. The point of SHAPE is to raise the profile, value, and visibility of disciplines in the social sciences, humanities, and arts, especially in contexts where STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) dominates public policy, funding, and perception. To be clear, it is to add SHAPE areas to the conversation, not replace STEM. Creating a common space that still values and recognises the importance of individual disciplines, as well as interdisciplinarity, is key to working together in a more equitable and effective way.

By unifying these disciplines under a single, strong, memorable banner, we are able to advocate better for their role in solving societal challenges, policy-making, ethics, culture, creativity, and understanding human behaviour. We are able to reframe the narrative showing that including these fields are essential for shaping a fair, sustainable, and meaningful future, not just "nice to have."

It is key that we balance the STEM/SHAPE conversation, showing they are complementary and collaborative, not competitive.

Building on that last question, people might be thinking that sounds like me but I'm not sure. Can you give some examples of real-world SHAPE projects or outputs (or some hypotheticals) you'd love to see from across King's?

There is already a huge amount of SHAPE-led innovation happening at King's. For example, researchers are turning their work into interactive tools and games that communicate complex ideas in engaging ways, or developing digital platforms that help small businesses reach new markets. Others are collaborating with underrepresented communities to co-create products and services that respond directly to their needs.

Innovation can also take many other forms, from setting up a consultancy based on your research expertise, to creating a social enterprise that tackles a pressing social issue, to designing a new digital tool or resource that supports learning, policy, or practice. It might mean developing a new business model, testing out a subscription service, or forming partnerships with new sectors, like the creative industries or health, that unlock alternative funding and income streams.

In short, SHAPE innovation is about applying creative, evidence-based thinking to real-world challenges, producing measurable impact and opening up fresh opportunities for collaboration, inclusion, and growth.

What is the new researcher support scheme 'SPARK Innovation'?

SPARK Innovation is a support scheme designed to help King's SHAPE researchers explore and develop innovative ideas in collaboration with external partners. Through King's Innovation Catalyst, it offers early-stage funding, mentoring, and tailored guidance to help researchers test out concepts, build prototypes, or pilot collaborations that could lead to wider innovation impact, partnerships, or commercial opportunities.

The idea behind SPARK Innovation is to lower the barriers to entry for researchers who might not see themselves as "innovators" yet but have great ideas with potential real-world applications. It is deliberately flexible, whether your innovation is a new digital resource, a creative product, a social enterprise concept, or a new way of engaging communities or industries, SPARK aims to provide support to help those ideas take off.

Applications will open soon, and we will be running workshops and drop-ins to help researchers shape their ideas and proposals.

What kind of support can King's / KIC offer?

The KIC team can help SHAPE researchers at any stage of their work, whether it's working in new ways with new external industry partners, creating new IP from their research, or developing an innovative service through consultancy or a spin out - and much more!