Bo is a design thinking academic and practitioner with a diverse teaching and consulting portfolio. Bo is an Associate Professor at the Warwick Business School, and an Innovation Consultant with Sprint Valley and Untapped Pricing. Outside of these roles, Bo is a beginner Turkish learner, Lego builder, and a dog mum to Sherlock.
Bugged by the lack of design thinking education outside of the traditional business school curriculum, Bo created several innovative interdisciplinary modules and the Leadership, Communication and Innovation course for the Warwick Summer School.
Bo is the creator of the Warwick Secret Challenge, a problem solving workshop with elements of design thinking, which has become a key methodology to tackle innovation challenges at Warwick. Last summer Bo led on the development of the Warwick Employability Challenge, which scaled the Warwick Secret Challenge into a 2-week sprint to re-imagine employability post-Covid, bringing together 12 teams and over 60 participants from across the University. This summer Bo is running the next iteration of the methodology: the Warwick Sustainability Challenge, in collaboration with the Coventry City Council. Bo has been sharing this work via various AdvanceHE events (she will be speaking at the upcoming Teaching & Learning Conference in July). Bo has also launched a limited podcast series on this topic in partnership with AdvanceHE. The podcast relaunched in early 2023 under the name Student Experience (SX) by Design. Bo's leadership in design thinking has been featured in the University's 2023 TEF Gold campaign.
Bo has been invited to collaborate with The Guardian to lead a Design Thinking 101 Masterclass (next date: TBC). She is currently working on the Designing Together project and a book chapter for the SD4HE, as well as research on design thinking as a threshold concept. She has released Affirmations for Design Thinkers in collaboration with Dr Neşe Ceren Tosun from Uniqorn Academy, and launched the Warwick Design Thinking Award in collaboration with Warwick School and Sprint Valley. The Award was featured in the January 2023 issue of the Independent Schools Magazine (p.6) and was awarded the Warwick Award for Public and Community Engagement.
In 2023 Bo received the Highly Commended Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence (WATE) in the Collaborative Category, WBS Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Award for Outstanding Contribution to Pastoral Care. She was also nominated for the 2023 Times Higher Education Awards as the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year and for the Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Leadership. In 2022, Bo received the WBS Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Undergraduate Programmes. In 2020 Bo was the recipient of the WATE, Lord Butterworth Award, which recognises outstanding contribution to learning and teaching at Warwick by someone in their first six years in higher education. She was one of the finalist for the 2021 WATE and a nominee for the 2021 Andrew McCamley Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching. Bo was also the recipient of the Warwick Business School Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching in 2017 and 2018.
At the end of 2020, Bo received a Postgraduate Award in Interdisciplinary Pedagogy (with Merit) from the University of Warwick. She holds a PhD in digital innovation from the Warwick Business School and a number of design thinking qualifications from IDEO U and AJ&Smart. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Enterprise Educators UK.
Bo's latest work has been focused on founding the Leadership for Educational Transformation programme aimed at supporting the transforming and rebuilding of the education sector in Ukraine post war. The first part of the programme took place in September 2023, leading to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Warwick, Ukrainian Leadership Academy, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Bugged by the lack of design thinking education outside of the traditional business school curriculum, Bo created several innovative interdisciplinary modules and the Leadership, Communication and Innovation course for the Warwick Summer School.
Bo is the creator of the Warwick Secret Challenge, a problem solving workshop with elements of design thinking, which has become a key methodology to tackle innovation challenges at Warwick. Last summer Bo led on the development of the Warwick Employability Challenge, which scaled the Warwick Secret Challenge into a 2-week sprint to re-imagine employability post-Covid, bringing together 12 teams and over 60 participants from across the University. This summer Bo is running the next iteration of the methodology: the Warwick Sustainability Challenge, in collaboration with the Coventry City Council. Bo has been sharing this work via various AdvanceHE events (she will be speaking at the upcoming Teaching & Learning Conference in July). Bo has also launched a limited podcast series on this topic in partnership with AdvanceHE. The podcast relaunched in early 2023 under the name Student Experience (SX) by Design. Bo's leadership in design thinking has been featured in the University's 2023 TEF Gold campaign.
Bo has been invited to collaborate with The Guardian to lead a Design Thinking 101 Masterclass (next date: TBC). She is currently working on the Designing Together project and a book chapter for the SD4HE, as well as research on design thinking as a threshold concept. She has released Affirmations for Design Thinkers in collaboration with Dr Neşe Ceren Tosun from Uniqorn Academy, and launched the Warwick Design Thinking Award in collaboration with Warwick School and Sprint Valley. The Award was featured in the January 2023 issue of the Independent Schools Magazine (p.6) and was awarded the Warwick Award for Public and Community Engagement.
In 2023 Bo received the Highly Commended Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence (WATE) in the Collaborative Category, WBS Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Award for Outstanding Contribution to Pastoral Care. She was also nominated for the 2023 Times Higher Education Awards as the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year and for the Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Leadership. In 2022, Bo received the WBS Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Undergraduate Programmes. In 2020 Bo was the recipient of the WATE, Lord Butterworth Award, which recognises outstanding contribution to learning and teaching at Warwick by someone in their first six years in higher education. She was one of the finalist for the 2021 WATE and a nominee for the 2021 Andrew McCamley Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching. Bo was also the recipient of the Warwick Business School Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching in 2017 and 2018.
At the end of 2020, Bo received a Postgraduate Award in Interdisciplinary Pedagogy (with Merit) from the University of Warwick. She holds a PhD in digital innovation from the Warwick Business School and a number of design thinking qualifications from IDEO U and AJ&Smart. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Enterprise Educators UK.
Bo's latest work has been focused on founding the Leadership for Educational Transformation programme aimed at supporting the transforming and rebuilding of the education sector in Ukraine post war. The first part of the programme took place in September 2023, leading to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Warwick, Ukrainian Leadership Academy, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.