Delivery Team

Director - Space South Central Enterprise Network

Dr Louise Butt has served as Director of Space South Central since 2023, leading one of the UK's largest space clusters that generates over £2 billion in turnover annually and supports more than 14,000 highly skilled jobs. Louise has secured over £3 million in additional investment for the South Central space sector, including £525,000 from UKSA's Space Ecosystem Programme and €300,000 from ESA's Business Applications Ambassador Programme. Under her leadership, the cluster has supported consortia proposals for almost £50 million in R&D funding, enabling regional companies to develop new technologies and services.​

Louise is passionate about fostering collaboration between industry and academia, managing a high-performing team that has delivered over 5,000 business support hours, 83 workshops and events, and secured approximately £10 million in Foreign Direct Investment. As Director, she works to strengthen the space ecosystem across the South Central region, championing sector growth at local, national, and international levels.​

She began her career in biochemical research, completing her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology before moving into strategic project development in emerging technologies. Prior to becoming Director, Louise served as Business Development Manager for the South Coast Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications, where she supported more than 200 companies and helped secure £15.4 million in R&D funding.​

Louise brings extensive experience in building partnerships, supporting project planning, and connecting academia and industry to secure competitive funding. She regularly contributes to national space policy and is consulted by government and industry on UK space strategy.

Strategic Partnerships Manager 

Dr Elizabeth Clutton has spent the past 2 yrs+ as the ESA Space Solutions Ambassador for the South/South East UK, supporting organisations to develop their technology into viable commercial products, leading market engagement, commercialisation strategies and stakeholder relationships across downstream technology sectors. Elizabeth  has supported £36M+ in ESA funding and £4M Innovate UK grants, networking with senior leaders, developing commercial strategies, engaging with over 280 organisations in under 3 years.  

Elizabeth is passionate about connecting people and fostering collaboration. In her current role, as Strategic partnerships manager, Elizabeth works to create a platform for collaboration between the four partner universities of Space South Central, showcasing the excellent research in development and seizing opportunities to bring industry stakeholders alongside our academic professionals.  

Elizabeth originally started her career in Marine Environmental Sciences completing numerous postdoctoral positions, before moving into supporting strategic project development in emerging technology.  

Elizabeth has extensive experience building partnerships, supporting project planning and supporting collaborative projects that connect academia and industry to secure competitive funding.  

International Partnership Manager

Tobias Marchant is the International Partnership Manager for Space South Central.

With 15 years recruitment experience and joining the Cluster from Serco Space Services Europe, he will be responsible for fostering strong relationships and international partnerships.

Aiming to form strategic collaboration to help grow the Space sector in the South Coast (Surrey & Hampshire), Toby will liaise within the region with local businesses (start-ups, SME’s and Primes) and government bodies. Toby will also work internationally with Universities, private companies, investment funds and national bodies to help promote international alliances, knowledge exchange, research and trade.

Toby's expertise lies in his comprehensive knowledge of the global space industry and his keen understanding of key growth areas for the UK, EMEA, Australia, and America. With a focus on addressing skills challenges face by companies that can limit potential growth, he has helped businesses with scale up strategy and long-term growth plans and how to take their business to the next phase. He is dedicated to advancing the industry's capabilities.

Business Development Manager

Dan Smith has recently joined the team within Space South Central. He is the Business Development Manager for the team and works hard to link businesses with Space South Central. He believes passionately in collaborative working, with a team-first ethos. Dan has worked for the University of Portsmouth for over 6 years, and knows how the HE sector operates. His forensic knowledge of university processes and procedures means he is well-placed to help businesses build links with the wider Space South Central academic community.

Business Engagement Manager for Space at the University of Southampton

Frances is part of Research and Innovation Services (RIS) at the University of Southampton and has been leading interactions with the space sector for four years. She was Southampton’s SPRINT Innovation Advisor 2019-2022 and is now Southampton’s key liaison for Space South Central, where she also serves on the Advisory Board and on the Innovation and Enterprise Committee.

As a Humanities graduate with an enduring interest in science, Frances had roles within Humanities until switching to a science focus, allowed her to lead the team developing strategic interdisciplinary research groups at Southampton, themed around grand challenges. This led to engagement with industry and the chance to develop collaborative funding bids.

Frances has developed a wide network of academic contacts, which provided scope to generate a significant upsurge of interest in space at the university, which allowed her to demonstrate and showcase the excellence of Southampton’s space capabilities, raising the profile of Southampton as a space university.

Communication Coordinator

Lee O'Driscoll works with Ebony Cox-Vint to manage marketing and communications for Space South Central, with a focus on strategy, media relations, content writing and producing the cluster's marketing materials, such as brochures and videos.

She has worked in marketing, PR and corporate communications for both private and public sector organisations for more than 20 years, with many years of experience in the technology and higher education sectors.

Communication Coordinator

Ebony works with Lee O’Driscoll as a communications coordinator. After working on VR projects Cube Sat and Sat-Vis for the South Coast Centre of Excellence during her Computer Games Technology undergraduate degree, Ebony joined the team building up her expertise in online communications. Ebony now uses her skills to manage Space South Central’s social media channels, and website and is responsible for developing compelling content using quality graphics and imagery.

Senior Administrator

Vicky is a great multi-tasker who joined the original team back in 2018. Having worked previously in various customer service roles, it has always been a goal for her to work in the space industry. Vicky oversees operations and events, and coordinates with our stakeholders and membership, engaging in planning activities as required.