Heather is Head of Marketing & Operations and has been with Interface since 2014.
Heather champions Scottish innovation and the benefits that business academic partnerships can bring. She leads a multidisciplinary team across marketing, communications, programme support, administration, and delivery coordination.
A passionate and experienced senior marketing and communications professional Heather has over 18 years experience delivering integrated and multi-channel campaigns. Prior to joining Interface Heather held positions with a Scottish tech company and holds a BA (HONS) in Marketing from the University of Stirling.
Laura is an Innovation Engagement Lead at Interface, where she connects businesses with Scotland’s academic expertise to drive innovation, productivity and inclusive economic growth. With a strong focus on student placements and academic engagement, she supports organisations across all sectors in accessing the knowledge, research capabilities, and specialist facilities within universities and research institutes.
Building on her previous experience as a Business Engagement Officer, and with over 15 years in customer service management in the finance and retail sectors, Laura brings a people-first approach to relationship building. She works closely with businesses to understand their challenges, helps shape project ideas, and facilitates connections to the most relevant academic partners. Her role also includes supporting clients in navigating funding opportunities and working with partner organisations to ensure a joined-up, effective service.
Outside of work, Laura enjoys exploring the countryside with her husband Ryan and dog Charlie, getting creative with crafting and the occasional day at the races.
Laura recently became a mother, and is currently on maternity leave. If you’d like to reach out, please email info@interface-online.org.uk and we’d be delighted to help.
Laura is Director of Interface and has held senior roles since joining in 2014, including Interim Director, Associate Director, Head of Innovation Engagement and Head of Business Engagement.
With over 20 years’ experience in knowledge exchange and business development Laura is passionate about knowledge exchange and inclusivity. She brings a wealth of experience in developing and implementing strategies to engage with businesses and organisations across Scotland, the UK and Internationally.
Interface plays a unique role bringing businesses and Scotland’s world class academic community together. These partnerships stimulate innovation and drive economic, social and environmental activity and Laura has been a driving force of this activity.
Prior to joining Interface Laura worked at Edinburgh Innovations Ltd (formally Edinburgh Research and Innovation) and before that held positions in oil and gas and financial services.
Laura is a graduate of Edinburgh Napier University with a BA in Business Information Management.
Louise Arnold is a Senior Innovation Engagement Lead at Interface where she plays a central role in connecting businesses with Scotland’s universities, colleges, and research institutes to foster impactful collaborations. With over 20 years’ experience building strategic partnerships across Scotland’s innovation ecosystem, she is recognised as a trusted advisor within the KE&I community, helping organisations navigate innovation pathways, unlock academic expertise, and engage with funding mechanisms to develop partnerships that deliver real world impact. Her work spans early stage innovation support, multi stakeholder engagement, and strengthening university industry relationships across a diverse range of sectors.
With a background in market analysis, research strategy, and stakeholder engagement across industry and academia, Louise brings deep insight into how to translate complex research into meaningful economic and societal outcomes. She also contributes to Scotland’s wider innovation landscape as an assessor on funding panels and a collaborator on academic engagement initiatives.
Out of work Louise enjoys walking her dog, DIY and catching up with friends.
As Innovation Project Officer, Nicola works across the teams to deliver Interface’s mission which is to connect businesses and academics. Her role involves HR, Office Management, Funding delivery, as well as providing support for the marketing, and systems and finance teams. Having grown up in Kenya she graduated with a degree in Media, Society and Culture from Northumbria University. Since then, Nicola has gained international experience in a variety of roles from events management, retail and administration. Nicola is one of Interface’s qualified Mental Health First Aiders, is a University of Edinburgh Sustainability Champion and is part of the Responsible Business group. In her free time Nicola enjoys travel, reading, and exploring the Edinburgh food scene.
Suzy has been with Interface since 2015 as PR and Communications Executive, following 17 years working in public relations both in-house and agency.
Prior to that she was a journalist with a variety of daily and weekly newspapers.
Suzy’s main role at Interface is the creation and implementation of the PR and Communications strategy, letting the world know of the amazing work that Interface does, the impacts that this has on Scotland’s economy and society and supporting small businesses by spreading their success stories.
In 2023, Suzy became accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project.