The Centre for Public Relations Studies is run by public relations professionals for public relations professionals. All of our team and our associates have general and specific expertise encompassing collectively the entire spectrum of public relations and communications disciplines.

Associates

The Centre draws on the largest public relations group in Europe to serve its clients and undertake research. It also has established relationships with the UK's top public relations professionals and can call on a network of associates in every sector of public relations practice.

Anne Gregory, Centre Director

Professor of Public Relations

Anne Gregory is the director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies at Leeds Business School and the UK′s only full-time Professor of Public Relations. Anne was President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 2004.

Before becoming an academic, Anne spent 12 years in public relations practice and has experience of running award-winning strategic public relations programmes, from both an in-house and a consultancy base. She remains involved in consultancy work and is a non-executive director of a Mental Health Trust with special responsibility for communication issues.

Anne′s expertise is used, particularly by the public sector, and her current clients include the UK Government Cabinet Office, the Department of Health anda number of local authorities. She has also worked for private sector clients such as Nokia and Eloqui. She is an international speaker on a range of topics in public relations and holds Visiting Professor posts at a number of Universities. Anne is an Associate of DEMOS, the UK think-tank and on the Programme Board for the UK Government′s communication development initiative, serving with the Permanent Secretary, Government Communications.

Anne is editor of the CIPR/Kogan Page PR in Practice book series and author of ′Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns′, the best selling title in the series. She is published widely in academic and popular journals and is a contributor to BBC Radio 4 on a regular basis. She is the lead rsearcher in public relations in the 2007/8 Research Assessment Exercise and belongs to Unit 66, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies.

Paul Willis

Director

Prior to becoming a Director of CPRS at Leeds Metropolitan University, Paul was Deputy Managing Director at Ptarmigan Consultants, a multiple award winning public relations agency and former PR Week ′Consultancy of the Year′. He established the agency′s strategy and planning function, playing a key role in building a culture of professional excellence within the consultancy and helping Ptarmigan to become one of the country′s most successful independent PR operations, employing over 50 people and generating a turnover of more than £4 million per annum.

As a consultant Paul has provided strategic counsel to a range of organisations and brands operating in the private, public and NGO sectors, delivering campaigns that have encompassed many issues, audiences and techniques. He has also led a range of blue chip commercial research projects covering issues such as corporate social responsibility, sponsorship, public affairs, evaluation and stakeholder analysis.

He has worked as a retained consultant for clients including ASDA, BDO Stoy Hayward, BT, Britannia Building Society, BMW, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Direct Line, English Heritage, Ernst & Young, Football Association, Learning and Skills Council, NHS, Proctor & Gamble, Royal Bank of Scotland, npower, UK Sport, Urban Splash, Wm Morrison and WRAP. Paul has also delivered a wide range of bespoke training programmes for organisations as diverse as The Arts Council, NHS, local authorities and the CIPR.

He began his career running a media and research unit for a group of MPs at Westminster and then held public affairs roles both in-house and within the consultancy sector.

His current projects at the Centre include: the delivery of a strategic communication, planning and management course at the National School of Government on behalf of the Cabinet Office; the design, delivery and management of a development programme for senior communication and engagement professionals in the NHS; and a research project designed to explore communications best practice in the UK′s Most Admired Companies. Paul is a contributor to Exploring Public Relations (Prentice Hall, 2006), the most comprehensive UK-based text book in public relations, as well as an active researcher having presented academic papers in the UK and abroad on issues such as stakeholder power, guerrilla marketing, the communication challenges generated by the credit crunch, new engagement techniques and hard to reach audiences.