Dr Helen Mullen
- Lecturer in Entrepreneurship (Management)
telephone:
01413305426
email:
Helen.Mullen@glasgow.ac.uk
Adam Smith Business School, Room 607D, Main Building, University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5031-0865Biography
Dr Helen Mullen is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Adam Smith Business School. She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a PhD in Management (Entrepreneurship), supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, has a PgDip and MRes (Research Methodology in Business and Management), and a First-Class BA (Hons) in Marketing, with awards in marketing and international marketing, from the University of Strathclyde.
She is the Dissertation Coordinator: MSc Financial Technology Pathway Projects, Academic Lead (Management) for Assurance of Learning, a member of the Business School's Responsible Sustainable Management Group, and a member of the Connections with Practice Committee.
Helen teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate level with a focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship, where she has a particular interest in experiential learning, employability, and games-based learning. Helen has initiated a number of activities to support student engagement with industry and third sector organisations including work-based projects, mentoring, and specialist masterclasses.
Helen's research relates to small business and entrepreneurship, especially business growth, innovation, and business models within the creative and digital industries. Her Masters research examined the cluster evolution and entrepreneurial genealogy of the videogame industry in Scotland; while her doctoral studies investigated the experiences of videogame development studios transitioning from a subcontractor business models to one of proprietary intellectual property creation and commercialisation.
Throughout her academic activities, Helen has continued to engage with industry. This has included an ESRC-funded internship with Creative England, a publicly funded organisation supporting Film, Television, Games and Digital & Creative Services in the English regions outside London; the videogame-based Creative Territories network of industry and academia; and several specialist consultancy projects relating to business and sector development.
Prior to returning to academia, Helen was a management consultant for over 20 years including as part of the early-stage management teams in two specialist consultancy companies where she held senior business development and consultancy roles. She was involved in innovation, technology transfer, and company development across a range of sectors, managing projects for Scottish Enterprise, the European Commission, Scottish Government and various private companies. She latterly specialised in the creative and digital industries, leading projects to support company and sector development including entrepreneurial networks, skills development, pre-investment diligence, and sector evaluations.
Research interests
Helen is a member of the School's Entrepreneurship, Development and Political Economy research cluster.
Areas of expertise:
- Creative and digital industries.
- Business models and business model change.
- Small business growth.
- Industry clusters and ecosystems.
- Enterprise, entrepreneurship and employability-related education.
Grants
2022 - ASPECT - £4,965 (PI). "Games Ecosystem: supporting enterprise and commercialisation in Scotland’s videogames industry." The project investigates Scotland’s games industry from an ecosystem perspective, to identify how such an approach could support entrepreneurship and commercialisation. Collaboration involving the School of Computing Science, University of Stirling, and games industry practitioners.
2022 - ESRC CROSS IAA - £2,939 (PI). "Games Ecosystem engagement workshop." This project engages industry practitioners internationally to investigate good practice in games industry ecosystems, via a collaboration involving the School of Computing Science, the University of Stirling, and games industry practitioners.
2022 - ASPECT - £10,000 (Co-I). "Innovators Assemble: Using gaming and game development to accelerate business engagement, commercialisation and innovation in SHAPE" (INASSEM). This collaboration is led by ASPECT Innovation Fellow, Dr Mark Wong, and involves the Games and Gaming Lab, the John Smith Centre, the School of Computing Science and the Adam Smith Business School.
2020 - ASPECT, £12,000 (Co-I). "How can the Social Sciences Support Fintech Innovation". A collaboration with the University of Bristol to investigate the role of the social sciences in the FinTech sector, and the opportunities for University engagement in FinTech. .
2018 - ESRC Impact Accelerator Award (Knowledge Exchange Placement Fund) and Creative Scotland, £15,700 (Co-I). "Data provision in the Games Industry in Scotland." A cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Adam Smith Business School and the School of Computing Science to identify data-related issues in Scotland's videogame industry.
2018 - ESRC Impact Accelerator Award (User Engagement fund). £4,661 (Co-I). "Business Model change for games development businesses." A cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Adam Smith Business School and the School of Computing Science to disseminate business model-related research findings with the videogame industry.
Supervision
Dr Mullen is interested in supervising PhD projects related to entrepreneurship and welcome applications relating to
- Small business growth and support.
- Business models in creative and digital industries.
- Business models in community and social enterprises.
- Games-based learning.
- Entrepreneurship and enterprise-related education.
Teaching
Current
- Dissertation Coordinator: MSc Financial Technology
- Professional Practice 5 (Engineering Hons)
- Entrepreneurial Ventures, Management and Growth (UG Hons)
- Entrepreneurship 2 (level 2)
Previous
- Convenor, Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation (UG)
- Co-convenor, Integrated Business and Management in Practice (UG)
- Co-convenor, New Venture Planning (UG)
- Delivering Performance (PGT)
- Business Start-up (UG Hons)
- Entrepreneurship (UG Hons)
- Entrepreneurship: New Venture Creation (UG)
Research datasets
Additional information
Current roles
- Dissertation Coordinator: MSc Financial Technology
- Adam Smith Business School Liaison for the College of Arts
- Management Representative, Adam Smith Business School Responsible and Sustainable Management Steering Group
- Committee Member, Adam Smith Business School, Connections with Practice
- Advisor of Studies, College of Social Sciences
- Volunteer mentor MCR Pathways
Previous roles
- Volunteer, The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust
- Member, AHRC Creative Territories Network
- Mentor, NESTA funding recipients (digital and creative)
