Glenn Parry
Glenn Parry is a professor in Digital Transformation at University of Surrey and is the Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences. He was formally Professor of strategy and operations management at Bristol Business School, UWE. and senior visiting fellow with the University of Bath, UK. He authored and edited the textbook titled Service Design and Delivery published by Springer.
Personal life
Education
He received B.Sc and M.Phil degrees from University of Wales, Swansea in 1995 and 1997. In 2003, he obtained Certificate in Counselling and Psychotherapy from Coventry University, and Certificate in Teaching Higher Education and Diploma in Rogerian Counselling and Psychotherapy from University of Warwick in 2005. He completed his PhD from University of Cambridge in 2000.Career
Professor Parry led Surrey Business School REF 2021 Impact work, supporting the submission of 5 impact cases. The school improved from 91st REF2014 to 16th in REF2021. He was subsequently Head of Department of Digital Economy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, growing the department in size to be one of the three core disciplines of the School. He is currently the Associate Dean Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, leading research management for a diverse portfolio of disciplines including Business, Economics, Law, Acting, Music, Sociology, Hospitality and languages.Parry was a leader of the 9 million Euro European Integrated Logistics for Innovative Product Technologies project. The project's main purpose is research and production descriptions of how a build to order system may be implemented for European vehicle manufacture. The key findings were presented to the European Commission and industry and were detailed in a book "Build to Order" In the project German OEMs were also involved, the project has garnered international interest.
Parry's worked on Blockchain research as CoDirector of the UK Centre for Decentralised Digital Economy. He spoke on the Oxford Union Society webinar series on Blockchain and Supply Chains. His work capturing the learning from the Reducing Friction in International Trade blockchain system forms part of the UK Government 2025 Border Strategy.· He has worked closely with Cabinet Office and HMRC on the development of pilot systems for border trade . He is coAuthor of ICC & IC4DTI “” May 2025 and contributor to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change "Making Trade Work Again" report May .
In the creative sector, Parry was part of Bristol and Bath by Design, examining design companies in the Bristol and Bath region, to better understand the economic and cultural value of the design-led . The work led to the book that found a nexus between migration and occupation patterns of creative workers and early family experiences and social class. The work challenges Florida's thesis that creative workers have unique characteristics and create vibrant cities. The work recommends that for success, policy redirect its focus towards creating places with good schools, affordable housing, sustainable jobs and strong connections across communities.