Science needs Stories

Kudos was founded in 2012 with a vision of a world where everyone benefits from science knowledge.

Our mission is to showcase science, so that more people can find, understand and use it.

We bring science to life through the power of storytelling. We use our expertise in research communications to share the beauty and excitement of science. Our platform helps researchers tell Stories about their research – crossing boundaries, achieving more influence, and getting more recognition.

We work with publishers, universities, corporations, funders, workflow providers and others to make it easier for researchers to grow the audience for their research.

Kudos has won several awards, and a peer-reviewed study has shown that articles for which Kudos had been used had 23% higher growth in readership.

MELINDA KENNEWAY
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder

I have worked in the scholarly communications industry for over twenty five years, and am passionate about supporting change that helps make research more accessible and effective. After completing my degree in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, I quickly fell into academic publishing, specialising in marketing. I have held Board-level positions with the Journals Division of Oxford University Press and Bioscientifica. I also founded the industry's leading marketing agency - TBI Communications. I co-founded Kudos in 2013 to help transform research communications - utilising the powerful new channels that are emerging, together with new metrics of reach and impact, to help researchers optimise their time in increasing readership and citations for their work.

CHARLIE RAPPLE
Chief Customer Officer & Co-founder

I'm a geek marketer, and have spent my whole career at the cutting edge of the scholarly communications sector. I have an insatiable interest in new techniques and technologies, about which I speak and write regularly. I'm passionate about breaking down barriers and improving relationships between everyone involved in research dissemination, and as such am an enthusiastic volunteer for the industry association UKSG. I am also an Associate Editor of Learned Publishing. I hold a BA from the University of Bristol and a postgraduate MDip in Marketing. Prior to co-founding Kudos, I was a strategic marketing consultant with TBI Communications, and had previously held various management roles at CatchWord, Ingenta and Publishing Technology.

DAVID SOMMER
Chief Product Officer & Co-founder

Products are my passion! I have over twenty years' experience in the global publishing industry, having held senior product, technology and sales roles at Blackwell Publishing and a board level position at Macmillan. I ran a successful publishing consultancy for six years and have worked with many leading publishers, societies, vendors and libraries in Europe, the US and the Middle East. I am actively involved in standards development and chair the COUNTER Executive Committee. I regularly chair and speak at industry events and serve on committees with ALPSP and UKSG. I hold an MA in Physics from The University of Oxford and an MBA from University College Dublin.

COLIN CAVENEY
Head of Business Development

From an initial career in multimedia and interactive TV, I found my way into scholarly publishing fourteen years ago and been enjoying my stay ever since. I have held various leadership roles at Semantico and HighWire, and have a passion for matching products and services with customers to ensure they deliver meaningful business impact. Away from the office, where time permits from the next DIY project or family days, I am interested in most sports and technology; even more so if they are combined, for my BSc in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence I wrote a neural network to automatically recognise offside in football.

MAEVE CROGHAN
Account Manager

I have held varied roles within the Education, Charity and Heritage sectors. Like Kudos, I am passionate about ensuring research has impact and is accessible to as wide an audience as possible. This was key in my role at Nesta, the Innovation Foundation, where I was responsible for researching, testing and communicating new education initiatives with the aim of helping young people prepare for the future. I hold an MA in Comparative Literature from Goldsmiths, University of London where I focused on Post-Colonial Literature from Ireland and the Caribbean.

STUART DAWSON
Chief Financial Officer

I joined the Kudos team as Chief Financial Officer in the summer of 2018, with a finance and operations background, having held roles as CFO and COO at a global academic publisher for 16 years. After completing a degree in Physical Geography at Sheffield University, I began my career with 11 years at the accounting and consulting firm Deloitte, where I qualified as Chartered Accountant, followed by 3 years in pharmaceuticals, before moving into the world of publishing and academia. Financial numbers are particularly powerful when accompanied by a clear business and commercial narrative. I strive to keep the narrative as straightforward and transparent as possible, linking this with operational efficiency and steering growth and transformational change.

SARAH MUSTAPHA
Business Development Manager

I have twelve years' experience in digital media and publishing, within and outside academia – including roles at SAGE, the Guardian, and the British Medical Journal. I'm passionate about business development – I have launched various new products and services, and I love finding ways to add value, and building long-term relationships with colleagues and customers to help solve people's problems. Outside work, I have a degree in modern languages from the University of East Anglia. I have a young family, I’m an avid reader and cook, and I have aspirations to write something longer than this one day.

VIVIEN PINNER
Sales Support Executive

I have worked in sales since leaving school. I have mainly worked within FMCG catering food sales and have a wealth of experience in customer service, business development and account management. I'm passionate about matching the correct product to the right client and leaving every one with a smile on their face. Working for Kudos is a big change for me and it's exciting to be part of such an interesting, innovative and inclusive environment. Away from the office you can generally find me enjoying a Netflix boxset, rescuing ex battery hens or being embarrassed by my two dogs.

ANNE-MARIE PRITCHARD
Software Engineer

I am a self-taught software engineer with a BA in English Language from Lancaster University. I enjoy working with Kudos's varied and well thought-out technology stack as well as contributing to such an exciting product. Outside of work, I enjoy sports and fitness (especially climbing/bouldering), and art/drawing.

ALEX REID
Head of Technology

I'm a software engineer. During my BSc Computer Science degree programme at the University of Hull, I focused on functional programming and creating tools to help people learn to write software. Since then, I've switched gears to building web applications, with a particular interest in the software that runs on servers like the one sending you this page! When I'm not writing software, I enjoy cooking new recipes and going out on hikes – it usually rains, but that's all part of the fun!