Social Sciences - Five and a half years

I joined Elsevier in 1992 after completing my MSc in Environmental Forestry, and worked in London for a year as a Production Editor before transferring to the Oxford office. I was then fortunate enough to progress through a number of roles including Publishing and Senior Publishing Editor, working on a variety of book and journal programmes within the Biomedical and Environmental Sciences.

Having taken voluntary redundancy in 2000, I joined Blackwells as Publisher for their Economics and Management journals programme. This was a great experience and gave me excellent exposure to publishing for Societies. Unfortunately though it only gave me the opportunity to work with journals, and I missed the excitement of book publishing. As a result I snapped up the chance to re-join Elsevier a year later, working on both a journal and book programme. I progressed to Publisher for the Business and Management Programme, which had a large and well-established book list. After my first period of maternity leave, I returned on a flexible working arrangement, working the full hourly week but over 4 days.

I am now the Publisher for our Social Sciences & Economics Reference programme. My role is to identify and publish new and cutting-edge material that’s crucial for the development of both theory and practice. I spend a great deal of time talking to all members of the community, from Nobel laureates to distinguished professors and the newly qualified - finding out what information they need for their research and for teaching, when they need it, and how it should be delivered. I then use this information in planning our future publishing strategy. I'm proud of the contribution Elsevier makes to this field, and I personally feel privileged to be involved.

Back to UK profiles