Business School

Adam Smith

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Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith

BEcon MSc FHEA

Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
apsmith@abdn.ac.uk
Office Address

MacRobert Building

King Street

Aberdeen AB24 3FX

School/Department
Business School
Linkedin
Pure

Biography

Senior Leader on our Business Consulting programmes and Entrepreneur in Residence working with local and global partner businesses of the university. Combines academic leadership with significant expertise in organisational transformation, interdisciplinary collaboration, external engagement and industry partnership development. Brings international experience across the UK/Europe, Middle East and China, alongside a consulting background with Deloitte supporting large-scale organisational change and transformation programmes.

Project Manager of joint Business and Engineering schools renewable energy project titled "The Blythe Turbine" a hybrid solar and wind generator. Secured external commercial funding from The Ocado Trust Award (2021), The DPD Group Eco Fund Award (2021), Vattenfall : Unlock our Future Fund (2021) and internally from the University of Aberdeen Knowledge Exchange Commitee Award (2021). 

 

Ocado Foundation raises a huge... - The Kent Autistic Trust | Facebook  

 

An Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Currently a company director for 4 businesses in the UK and multiple across the globe, I bring years of corporate business management, business start up and angel investment experience into the classroom. 

Currently I am linking my research in renewable energy business modelling with my own company Faust Electric Ltd. I believe universities and enterprise need to work closely together to solve our current energy challenges. I am mostly focussed on VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine).

Qualifications

  • MSc Project Management 
    2011 - Northeastern University, Boston 
  • BEcon Organisational Psychology 
    2000 - Macquarie University, Sydney 

External Memberships

  • World Council for Sustainable Business
  • AHRI – Australia Human Resource Institute
  • IHRIM - International Association for Human Resource Information Management 
  • SHRM – Society for Human Resource Management
  • CMI – Chartered Management Institute
  • ILM -  Institute of Leadership & Management
  • FHEA - Fellow of Higher Education Academy

Prizes and Awards

PUBLISHED AUTHOUR :

Business Consulting in an AI World (2026) : A practical guide for new consultants, managers, and experienced advisors who want to understand how consulting is changing and how to thrive in the new AI world. It combines proven consulting frameworks with real-world case studies and modern insight into artificial intelligence, ethics, and organisational change.

Right to Wealth (2025): Through stories and lessons, they learn the seven rules of money: pay yourself first, control spending, make your money work, protect what you have, own instead of rent, plan for the future, and grow your skills. 

Research

Research Overview

Creating entrepreneurial ecosystems within higher education institutions

Member of the Centre for Energy Transition  - https://www.abdn.ac.uk/energy/

Research Areas

Business Management

View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
  • Energy Engineering
  • Electrical Power Generation
  • Electrical Power

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Knowledge Exchange

Founder and CEO of Faust Electric Ltd a renewable energy company specialising in hybrid micro-generation turbines.

Collaborations

KTP with Engineering Department on renewable energy systems

Supervision

I do not supervising PhD programmes. 

Funding and Grants

University of Aberdeen Knowledge Exchange Award 2021 - Hybrid renewable energy  

Ocado Trust Award 2021 - Renewable energy 

The DPD Group Eco Fund Award 2021 - Renewable energy

Vattenfall Build our Future Fund 2021 - Renewable energy

KTP / The ANM Group 2022-2204 - Renewable energy consulting

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Programme Leader for MSc Business Consulting with Psychology

Course Coordinator for Business Strategy

MBA/MSc lecturer in Project Management

Academic Writing

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Facilitator of specialist 'Executive Time Management' sessions for UG, PG and Executive Education courses.

'The Founders' entrepreneurship programme

Publications

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