Tamara joined the Centre for Enterprise in February 2012. Her research interests include sustainable business, entrepreneurial learning, graduate entrepreneurship and business growth. Tamara is Co-chair of the ISBE Entrepreneurial Learning in Organisations Special Interest Group.

Tamara gained her PhD from the University of Manchester in 2005 and subsequently worked in consultancy on a wide range of public sector research projects. She brings her experience of economic development and regeneration to her current research, which includes studies supported by ESRC, EPSRC and BIS. 

Key research:

Rural Hybrid Energy Enterprise Systems (RHEES): a multi institution research project led by the University of Nottingham and funded under the EPSRC Bridging the Urban and Rural Divide programme. 

Making pub retailing greener: A university / private sector partnership to build and share research informed action, an ESRC funded Knowledge Exchange with Robinson’s Brewery.

Understanding the high growth mindset: an empirical study involving depth interviews and a survey with high growth entrepreneurs, in partnership with the Growth Accelerator Observatory and supported by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

Selected publications:

• McNeill, T.  Kahtun, A., Giddens, C., Shorley, J. and Beaven, Z. (2014), In for the long haul: models of sustained Graduate Support and Education, Industry and Higher Education, 28(6) 41-425.
• McNeill, T. What drives high growth? The role of the individual entrepreneur in the high growth business, paper presented at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Manchester, 4-6 November 2014 (winner of best paper in the ‘Entrepreneurship and Small Business Realities’ track).
• Martin, L.M. McNeill, T., and Warren Smith, I., (2013) Exploring business growth and eco-innovation in rural small firms, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 19 (6).
• Baines, S., McNeill, T., and Martin, L.M., (2013) Enterprise and Energy: towards Business models for community micro generation, paper presented at British Academy of Management conference, Belfast, 9-11 September 2014.