Professor Robert Blackburn

Professor Robert Blackburn (PhD) is Director of Research, Faculty of Business and Law, HSBC Professor of Small Business Studies and Director of the Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University. His academic interests span the social sciences including sociological, regional and economic analyses of small firms. He has managed numerous research projects on small firms and entrepreneurship, including environmental practices, management issues, employment relations and public policy. Robert is editor of the International Small Business Journal http://isb.sagepub.com/current.dtl (Sage publications) and a Vice President of the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He was appointed as an 'expert' on the Entrepreneurship Green paper and Action Plan to the European Commission's Economic and Social Committee (2005). His academic output is prolific and his books include (with co-author James Curran) Researching the Small Enterprise (Sage, 2001) and Intellectual Property and Innovation Management in Small Firms (ed. Routledge, 2003). His current interests include research on business performance, regulation and business exits.