Priti Patel, Professional Services Service Development (PSSD) Programme Director

17 March 2026

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve worked at Queen Mary? 

I’ve worked in the Higher Education sector for more than ten years now and joined Queen Mary in 2018 as Associate Director Marketing when my goal was to boost Queen Mary’s profile amongst prospective UK students. I’ve recently taken up a secondment as PSSD Programme Director. 

Describe your average day/week 

I am often going between different campuses; a lot of my time is spent meeting people and getting their perspective on how the PSSD Programme is going. When I’m not talking about PSSD, I am thinking about it – the road map, the projects that are coming up, what we need to do to achieve the best version of effectiveness across Professional Services (PS) at Queen Mary. There’s a lot of learning going on to understand where we are, what we do and our strengths and weaknesses.

Are there any key projects you are currently working on that you’d like to highlight?  

We’ve got some interesting projects coming up as part of the PSSD Programme. The newer projects that we’re working on include Timetabling and Employability operating models. The exciting thing about these projects is that they affect the whole student journey – so it’s complex, challenging – and fascinating. Learn more about the Timetabling and Employability Services projects from Chris Shelley. I’m also working with the AI Strategy Group, PS Leadership team and colleagues in ITS to understand opportunities to improve our services and, in doing so, refreshing the PSSD programme roadmap.

What do you see as your role in helping the University achieve its Strategy 2030?  

An efficient and effective PS function is absolutely essential to ensuring that the University achieves its Strategy 2030 goals. The PSSD Programme aims to strengthen Professional Services through leveraging technology, supporting our people with managing their careers long term and improving processes. The programme will help create a more resilient Professional Services which is financially sustainable.

What’s your favourite place on any of our campuses?   

I absolutely love the cafes in Whitechapel, Mile End and Dept W. I love being in an environment where I am surrounded by the stakeholders I want to engage with. If I have time between meetings or if I really need to focus, you’ll find me in one of these spaces, head down. There’s something about those environments I truly enjoy.

Do you have any hobbies, pastimes outside of work? 

I have fewer hobbies these days – having two kids takes a lot of my non-work time. I am however trying to get fitter - doing a bit of yoga and easy cardio training (which I am not finding at all easy!) Starting small and hoping to build as the year progresses. 

Are there any Queen Mary activities you’d recommend staff getting involved with? 

I would absolutely recommend the Process Improvement Community of Practice (CoP). For people who are interested in getting under the skin of how things work and trying to improve processes; this stuff can work wonders for teams and individuals - you can learn more about Process Improvement in our Lunch and Learn recording. The Process Improvement CoP has delivered some impressive projects - which colleagues have described as life-changing. We’ve set up Process Improvement training programmes that can be accessed through CPD - I would thoroughly recommend them. Outside of Queen Mary, I find LinkedIn Learning fantastic – there are so many different tools there. You can also increase the speed of the learning videos so you can just whip through them more quickly!  

Are there any stories about Queen Mary and its history that you know of and can tell us about?

There are so many stories that I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite! One that stands out is a family I met during an open day – the parents were both Queen Mary alum who had met while studying here, their son also studied here, and they were scoping out a venue for his engagement party. It spoke to me of the life changing and personal connections that are formed in our University and meeting them filled me with joy. Sadly, I was rushing around due to the open day and couldn’t get their details to write up a case study!