University staff join think tank leadership board

Two academic staff from University College Birmingham will be sharing their professional insights to help shape the work of a local think tank, the Centre for the New Midlands (CNM).

Together Lewis Walker and Deborah Bunce have been appointed to CNM’s leadership board.

Lewis (pictured), deputy head of the College of Food, had worked across restaurants and hotels throughout his career before turning his hand to teaching.

Deborah is an experienced civil engineer who now leads the department for Sustainable Construction.

Lewis said: “It’s a huge honour to have been asked to join the Centre for New Midlands, and to contribute towards the People and Skills workstream.

“I hope to use this platform as an opportunity to champion the region’s hospitality sector, promote University College Birmingham as an outstanding skills provider, and to open up new and exciting talent pipelines for the industries that we work alongside.”

Deborah said: “It is with great pleasure I join the leadership board at the Centre for The New Midlands and I’m looking forward to working with the other members on helping to shape a sustainable, robust future for all aspects of infrastructure in the region.”

Made up of four workstreams, the Centre is the only independent, non-partisan think tank for the West Midlands.

Individuals bring to the Centre their united desire to make the West Midlands region an even better place to live, work, play, study and invest in.

To find out more about the work of the Centre for the New Midlands and their vision, visit here.

To find out more about the recent work University College Birmingham has been involved in within the region visit here.