Ian has taught enterprise and entrepreneurship for a number of years. He has also led on several local businesses engagements through Business Link consultancy projects and the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme. One of these projects, involving an SME manufacturer in the West Midlands, was bestowed a national award for excellence following the successful completion of the two year KTP programme

Ian is committed to the support of small firms and developing practitioner relevant research. This is borne out of his previous experience running a small business in the West Midlands delivering a number of talks to schools on running a small business and entrepreneurship.

His specific research interests include entrepreneurial learning in SME management teams, small firm management team learning, mentoring coaching & learning in small firms, high growth firms and enterprise education. He is a member of ISBE and has presented a number of  practitioner focused papers at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference and has a number of publications in the field of entrepreneurial learning.

In addition to his research interests and practitioner involvement, Ian is passionately committed to widening enterprise education amongst students, helping them not only develop their learning and knowledge about enterprise and entrepreneurship, but creating opportunities for students to practice and develop their skills for enterprise.

He has delivered several talks at local Enterprise Education events, particularly focusing on developing student practice & student engagement with enterprise skills. Ian has developed and is module leader for a number of the Enterprise UWBS modules.

He also completed the International Teachers Programme hosted at Manchester Business School in 2002 and has since won several UWBS learning and teaching excellence awards.

Entrepreneurial Learning

SME Team Learning

Mentoring, Coaching and Learning in Small Firms

SFHEA

Doctorate Business Administration - De Montfort University

MSc Entrepreneurial Studies (Distinction) - Stirling University

PGCE (Distinction) - Wolverhampton Polytechnic

Chartered Institute of Marketing - Wolverhampton Polytechnic

BA (Hons) Business Studies - Wolverhampton Polytechnic

Publications:

Rae, D. and Wang, C. (Editors) (2015) Entrepreneurial Learning: New Perspectives in Research, Education and Practice (Routledge Studies in Entrepreneurship). Entrepreneurial Learning in Small Firm Management Teams. Routledge

McKeown, I. (2012) Team learning in SMEs: Learning the lessons, Industry and Higher Education, Vol 24, No 6. pp. 491-503(13)

McKeown, I. (2012) Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks - Why Unlearning Matters in SME’s, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Vol 13, No 1, pp 5–14

McKeown, I. (2010) No more heroes: entrepreneurial learning in the SME management team, Industry and Higher Education, Vol 26, No 6, pp 1-13

Conference Papers:

McKeown, I. (2012) Coaching & mentoring in supporting entrepreneurial learning in small firms ISBE 35^th Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Dublin.

McKeown, I. (2012) Exploring the impact of coaching & mentoring in supporting entrepreneurial learning & growth in small firms. 38^th International Small Business Congress. Johannesburg, South Africa.

McKeown, I. (2011) Team learning in small firms ISBE 34^th Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Sheffield.

McKeown, I. (2010) Teaching Old Dogs new Tricks – Why Unlearning Matters in SME Management teams.  ISBE 33^rd Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Conference, London.

McKeown, I. (2009) No More Heroes anymore – Entrepreneurial learning in the SME Management Team. ISBE 32^nd Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Conference, Liverpool.

McKeown, I. (2006) Strategising amongst SME management teams through the lens of entrepreneurial learning. ISBE 29^th Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Conference National, Cardiff.

KTP Joint Lead academic  CW Corporation Communications

KTP Lead academic Chamois Kitchens

KEEN Lead academic UKAP Ltd