As Professor Phil Leigh takes to the roads of the UK as part of the team supporting the Tour of Britain now passing through the UK, it will be just the latest chapter in a remarkable career, in and out of the saddle.
The academic’s love of cycling has played a prominent part throughout his life and as the University of Cumbria’s senior knowledge exchange manager, he sees the county as playing an important role when it comes to sustainability.
He began to enjoy competitive cycling success in 1974 going on to win over 80 races by 1999 and representing his country in 1990.
As a part-time firefighter he was eligible to be part of the Great Britain Fire Services Team and from 1996 managed, directed and coached the Lakeland and Lancashire Cycling Team.
In 2001 as Northwest Cycling team director, he oversaw the transition of the Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Lakeland to a regional team. By 2002 his was enjoying international success with teams he managed winning in Ireland, France and South Africa.
One of his most high-profile post was as high-performance director of the Irish National Cycling team in the run up to the 2012 Olympics re he spent three years with Cycling Ireland promoting cycling for health and wellbeing alongside work for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games
Knowing how even small, so-called ‘marginal gains’ can make a difference to a cyclist has helped in his academic work and he’s keen to share this knowledge across Cumbria.
“As well as some of our major employers we’re also working on a wider Cumbria eco-system involving universities, councils, Enterprising Cumbria and others,” Professor Leigh says.
“At the university we’re offering things such as carbon audits, sustainability and efficiency surveys and we can support organisations through that journey.”
Helping businesses break through when it comes to performance is an area where sport and academia come together.
His research background gained from time at Lancaster University plus time at the University of Hull where he helped develop a doctoral training centre means he has wide experience of creating opportunities.
In Cumbria his aim is to develop innovation clusters in specialist technical sectors as drivers for regional economic growth.
With a brief to innovate and experience on two wheels it maybe wasn’t surprising that a recent business breakfast briefing saw participants take to two wheels before hearing how marginal gains can make a difference to businesses looking to boost profitability or simply be more sustainable. The next event is planned for the 18th September in Carlisle from the university’s Fusehill Street campus. For more information email:[email protected]
Professor Leigh leads the Irish Sea Rim, an economic research and innovation zone, a group of universities and colleges in the UK, Isle of Man and Ireland, who could collaborate to promote sustainable economic growth.
“We’re now working in agri-tech – farmers are natural innovators where change can make a massive difference to their survival not just sustainability,” Prof Leigh said. “I’m part of the Electech Innovation Cluster which has been a huge success and continues to grow. We can use this model to take into other areas like agriculture and the visitor and tourist economy.”
It might be early days but there’s a clear map of the road ahead for this inspiring academic.
