· WE KEEP RESEARCHERS AT THE FOREFRONT OF INDUSTRY PRACTICE ·
· WE KEEP RESEARCHERS AT THE FOREFRONT OF INDUSTRY PRACTICE · WE KEEP RESEARCHERS AT THE FOREFRONT OF INDUSTRY PRACTICE

CODE-SWITCH CONSULTANTS

Transforming academic research into
rigorous, practical & accessible
solutions for your business

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breachaware
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Career Connect
Tracy Simpson

Code-Switch Consultants is a story of a former part-time and self-funded PhD researcher (PhD status: unfinished) and her passion for supporting people to thrive in their careers. After years as a PhD researcher, Job Applications and Careers Adviser and Researcher Developer, I wanted to support researchers to gain in-demand industry skills to thrive inside or outside academia. The passion and perseverance to support the continuous professional development of researchers finally led to the establishment of Code-Switch Consultants, a University of Manchester staff start-up.

Since we launched in March 2020, Code-Switch symbolises not just the fruition of a dream but also the strong connections we have developed with and between researchers, businesses, universities and Doctoral Training Partnerships. Join our training programmes and project-based workshops to be part of the journey, learn a highly transferrable set of skills and techniques and experience the satisfaction of applying your existing research know-how to deliver immediate positive impacts on businesses, society and the economy.

We provide services for

PhD and Postdoctoral Researchers

Register for our MBA-style Research Consultancy Programme to get real-world consultancy experience and cultivate in-demand skills to stand out from the crowd and clinch the best jobs.

Universities and Doctoral Training Partnerships

Partner with Code-Switch to provide your researchers an exciting opportunity to develop key industry skills, gain a fresh sense of purpose and improve their career prospects.

Businesses and Organisations

Work with Code-Switch to access the best research talent in the market for your unique project and recruitment needs.

People love Code-Switch

Tracy Simpson FPFS

This has been an amazing experience and big thanks to my fantastic research team Alexandra Ciocănel, Arinze Ekwem and Alina McLellan. So exited for the final analysis and insights. Great thanks to Hellen Parra Flórez SFHEA for all her support in helping me put the initial proposal together.

Tracy Simpson FPFS
Giving women the knowledge and education to make confident financial ...

Charlotte Stuart

We worked with Helen and her team through the ESRC-funded Accelerating Business Collaboration (ABC) programme and funded 17 participants to participate in full Codeswitch Programme. The PGRs had valuable experience, saying they had learned a lot and benefited hugely, including feeling more confident about embarking on their academic and industry career paths. They demonstrated a greater awareness and understanding of commercial concepts and how their knowledge and skillsets wore of value to industry. From the outset, Helen's rigorous approach to planning and delivery gave me a lot of confidence to support students into their programme. She remained in contact with our team throughout, informing us progress, developments and any issues and shape her evaluation to suit our needs and those of our funders. She was an excellent person to work with and I readily recommended the services of CodeSwitch to other Universities.

Charlotte Stuart

lan Fairweather

Hi Hellen, I wanted to say how pleased I was to work with you and Code Switch Consultants. Your professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm were much appreciated by me and by our researchers. The support you gave them was of a high standard, they were fully engaged with the program and gave very good feedback on the involvement of Code Switch.

lan Fairweather
Student Support and Development Officer (School of Social Sciences) at University of Manchester

Sergio Castellanos-Gamboa

I am delighted to share my most recent achievement. After roughly 6 months of intense work and a series of unexpected events, I managed to finish this Research Consultancy Programme. This experience has opened a new world full of magnificent opportunities in the business and consultancy world. I am open and eager to embark on new projects which I will be sharing with you.

Sergio Castellanos-Gamboa
Adjunct Assistant Professor / at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

Prof Teela Sanders

Thank you Hellen and the Code Switch Consultants for delivering the Quick Switch Industry Engagement Essentials workshops for PGRs at the University of Manchester. PGRs really welcomed and valued your insights and left the sessions feeling more confident and equipped with tools and techniques to put into action.

Prof Teela Sanders

Jingwen Zhang

Thanks Hellen! I feel lucky to take part in the program and have an experience of applying my research skill inthe business field. It's a learning and rewarding journey for me. As a first-year PhD (in lockdown cohort), my teammates Seyi Awosika and Victoria Christodoulides are my valuable new friends who have given me so much support! Also, Anna Brady, Hellen Parra-Flórez SFHEA and Dr Katarzyna Kucaba, you three are a wonderful couching team! Appreciate a lot 🙂

Jingwen Zhang

Emily Marsay

Happy to have been a part of this project! A successful outcome for all involved

Emily Marsay
Associate Research Consultant / at Code-Switch Consultants

Meng Jia

It was an amazing experience to work with the Code-Switch team, the client, and my excellent team members!

Meng Jia

Victoria Christodoulides

Thank you Code-Switch Consultants for this brilliant experience. I have thoroughly enjoyed this 6month placement programme, learning from industry and our client John O'Brien, your programme (Hellen Parra-Flórez SFHEA Anna Brady, the project and my brilliant teammates Jingwen Zhang Seyi Awosika. This programme had given a huge range of transferable and specific skills in #research #consulting #programmemanagement #communication #engagingwithindustry that I am extremely grateful for and which will be invaluable to me. I would highly recommend any #earlycareerresearchers and #phdstudent to look at this project to develop their skills and confidence in these and many more areas. Thank you so much and I look forward to see where this experience opens up new doors in my career.

Victoria Christodoulides
ESRC PhD Candidate

Claire Faichnie

Thank you Hellen and the Code Switch Consultants for delivering the Quick Switch Industry Engagement Essentials workshops for PGRs at the University of Manchester. PGRs really welcomed and valued your insights and left the sessions feeling more confident and equipped with tools and techniques to put into action.

Claire Faichnie
Researcher Development Manager / at The University of Manchester

Seyi Awosika

Thank you Hellen Parra-Flórez SFHEA, Anna Brady, and the Code-Switch Consultants team for this great opportunity. It has been an invaluable experience honing a toolkit of skills in project management and business consulting. Thank you to our client for the support. And to my project team members Victoria Christodoulides and Jingwen Zhang, you are amazing!. I'll encourage PhD students and early career researchers to take advantage of this golden opportunity where you can apply your research techniques and skills in a business consultancy program. #phd #consultancy #research #projectmanagement

Seyi Awosika
PhD Student in Information Systems | Research Consultant | FinTech | Financial Inc...

Lee Livingstone, PhD

My experience of the Code-Switch consultancy training programme was uniquely engaging and an absolute highlight of my non-academic experiences during the PhD. As a student of English literature, I was curious about ways to 'professionalise' and expand my CV beyond academic achievements. The course was not only a major success in that regard, but it really helped me identify and strengthen my own existing skillset. Often underestimated is the power of communication, but as arts and humanities students that is perhaps our biggest asset. But what we don't often get in the PhD is the opportunity to test out and advance our communicative skills in a non-academic environment, such as in a business environment, and in a team. Particularly, in these isolating times, having that team aspect to the work was vitally important and, most of all, made it extremely fun. I made fantastic friends across completely different disciplines and felt really proud of all that we accomplished together on the project. And while it might seem daunting to jump head-first into the business world, especially when coming from an arts background, you can expect incredible support and guidance at all times from Hellen, Anna, and the rest of the Code-Switch team. So I highly encourage anyone to apply no matter your discipline. In many respects, I feel like I gained more from this 6-month programme than I did in the rest of my PhD - and that is no exaggeration.

Lee Livingstone, PhD
Associate 2 / at PwC

Alina McLellan

Really enjoying working on this project and can't wait to share our recommendations with Tracy!

Alina McLellan

Mayra M. Tirado

Congrats!!! And thanks for expanding the research skills of postdocs that through this initiative will have new experiences working closely with hugely relevant problems. I can see the impact of this initiative on their job prospects and professional paths. Congratulations again!! Let's talk more about it 😉

Mayra M. Tirado
Postdoctoral Research Associate / at Manchester Institute of Innovation Res...

Lee Francis

A great training scheme for #phdstudents the bridges academia and industry

Lee Francis
Marketing Researcher, Seminar Leader and Author

Joe Darwen

Thanks Hellen! Congratulations on putting together a fantastic Research programme. It was a pleasure working with you and the research team: Juliane, Lee, Meng, Emily! Looking forward to future projects

Joe Darwen
Founder @ Veo, the sustainable marketplace: the good stuff, no compr... / Ageing and Health| Quantitive Methods

John O’Brien

Hellen Parra-Flórez SFHEA a big thank you to codeswitchers and the research team, we really enjoyed working with you all and got a great outcome from all your hard work, thank you from all at LCMB Building Performance Ltd

John O'Brien
I help Directors of Estates & Property transform the impact of their tea..

Chris Humphrey

One of the more challenging aspects of transitioning from academia into another career, is gaining work experience relevant to your target sector or industry. It's the age-old problem of not being able to get a job without experience, but not being able to get experience without a job! Fortunately Hellen Parra-Flórez SFHEA has set up Code-Switch Consultants (CSC) to help researchers crack this problem. By joining CSC's Research Consultancy Programme, researchers get to use their skills and knowledge on real-world business projects, helping them to develop consultancy and project management skills and experience (see video).

Chris Humphrey
Team Leader, Change Delivery Team - Triodos Bank | Careers Consultant - Jobs ...

Arinze Ekwem

Boundary spanning and applying bilingual codes between and from Academia to Management Consulting is the Switch! Click on it.

Arinze Ekwem
A Pharmacist and Management Professional / at the intersection of Global ...

Andrew Alston

A great program to be involved with that will add value to your companies development! Knowledge share and business tranformation impact to BreachAware® that will be carried forward to its client base.

Andrew Alston
Co-Founder & Managing Director / at BreachAware®
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Meet the Code-Switch Team

Past Events

Net Zero

Exhibitor at the C-DICE Annual Conference: Net Zero Futures 2022

Proud platinum sponsor of the National Postdoc Conference – 2021

Proud platinum sponsor of the National Postdoc Conference 2021

Proud platinum sponsor of the National Postdoc Conference 2021-1

Exhibitor at the Vitae Connections Week 2021

You are in good company

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Networks

MEC Purple
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Featured project

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