About Tytherleigh Consulting
Insight And Practical Support For Ambitious Innovation
Tytherleigh Consulting was founded by Julie Lewis-Thompson (MBA, LPC, RTTP), building on more than 15 years’ experience across research development, innovation management, commercialisation and strategic funding.
Her background combines business, legal and innovation expertise through the One Planet MBA (Distinction) (University of Exeter), RTTP (Research Technology Transfer Professional) accreditation and legal training having studied both the CPE and LPC at the College of Law, Guildford. This combination of rigorous training, experience and skills has given her a unique, practical understanding of both the strategic and operational challenges involved in turning ambitious ideas into successful projects.
Working at intersection of innovation, research, business and collaboration, she has facilitated organisations in transforming promising concepts into funded projects, commercial opportunities and real-world impact. Her journey has taken her through the management of £-multi million projects, business development , technology transfer, research commercialisation, strategic funding, innovation management and partnership building. Along the way she has worked with researchers, entrepreneurs, SMEs, universities, public sector organisations and international consortia tackling challenges across science, technology, sustainability, social sciences and the built environment. Notable projects include the VSimulators projects at the Universities of Exeter and Bath, a £4.8 million EPSRC funded grant, supported by significant institutional investment to build two globally unique research facilities, combining immersive virtual reality for multiple participants, with accurate representations of vibrations across a range of environments.
Having supported hundreds of funding applications and managed complex research and innovation portfolios worth more than £100 million, Jules established Tytherleigh Consulting to make that experience available directly to organisations that need senior-level expertise, strategic insight and practical support.
Today, Tytherleigh Consulting works alongside SMEs, universities, charities, researchers and research-led organisations, helping them navigate the journey from an ambitious idea through to funding, delivery and impact.
Background Experience
Before establishing Tytherleigh Consulting, Jules worked extensively across higher education, research and innovation, developing funding strategies, building partnerships and supporting organisations to access national and international funding.
Her experience spans programmes including Horizon Europe, the European Research Council (ERC), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Innovate UK, EPSRC, US Grants, DTEP, UK Defence Innovation Fund, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and numerous charitable organisations.
Across this work, she has supported hundreds of funding applications and managed portfolios involving more than 160 live research and innovation projects, with individual awards ranging from £10,000 to more than £10 million.
But securing funding is only part of the challenge.
Successful innovation also requires the right partners, a credible proposition, clear governance, effective agreements and the structures needed to turn investment into meaningful outcomes. This is where Tytherleigh’s experience extends beyond proposal development into commercialisation, partnership development, contract negotiation, project mobilisation, governance and delivery.
Why Tytherleigh Consulting?
We believe good support should be both strategic and practical.
That means understanding not only how to pursue funding, but whether an opportunity is right in the first place; not simply identifying potential partners, but building relationships that add genuine value; and not treating a successful award as the end point, but ensuring projects are structured to deliver what they promised.
Our approach is built around a few simple principles:
Trusted partnerships. We work alongside our clients as an extension of their team, bringing independent thinking while remaining focused on their objectives.
Integrity and transparency. Sometimes the right advice is to pursue an opportunity. Sometimes it is to wait, change direction or not apply at all. We provide clear, realistic advice rather than chasing funding for its own sake.
Rigour in delivery. From strategy and proposal development through to contracts, mobilisation and project delivery, we bring structure, attention to detail and an understanding of what funders and partners require.
Innovation with purpose. Funding is a means, not the destination. Our focus is on helping clients develop innovations and projects capable of creating meaningful commercial, economic, environmental or societal value.
From Individual Expertise To Collaborative Capability
Tytherleigh Consulting was established to provide organisations with something between a traditional consultancy service and recruiting additional permanent resources.
We can support a defined piece of work, help develop and mobilise a major project, or work alongside your organisation over a longer period as an extension of your team.
As each project requires something different, we can also help bring together the expertise, relationships and specialist support needed around an opportunity — allowing Tytherleigh Consulting to provide flexible capability shaped around the client rather than a one-size-fits-all service.
From opportunity to impact
Our work is underpinned by The Hive Framework, Tytherleigh Consulting’s six-stage approach:
Scout → Connect → Create → Negotiate → Organise → Deliver
It provides a practical framework for moving from identifying the right opportunity and building the right relationships, through to developing a credible project, establishing strong foundations and delivering meaningful impact.