Judith Elliott is an internationally recognised Quality Management Systems adviser with particular expertise in Research and Development legal compliance relating to the agrochemical, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. In 2013 Judith retired from her role.
From 1992, on behalf of the British Association of Research Quality Assurance (BARQA), Judith collaborated with Anglia Ruskin University in the design and delivery of the Diploma in Research Quality Assurance, and later in the nineties, in conjunction with our University's Enterprise and Innovation Office, developed the dedicated Masters programme in Quality Management (Regulated Scientific Research and Development). This programme was updated and revalidated in 2003.
In 2004 Judith Elliott was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts.
"Judith was born in Newport, South Wales and was educated at Monmouth School for Girls and Howell's School, Llandaff, Cardiff, where she developed an interest in drama and cricket, playing in the first XI. She then went to read Agricultural Botany at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where she developed her part time acting interests and became involved in the Debating Society.
Later, she enjoyed an itinerant existence, because of her husband's full-time employment in the Queen's service as an Officer in the RAF. Beginning in the North of Scotland, she moved to Cyprus, then Lincolnshire, then Germany, then back to England. When her two children were young, she worked in education (as a fully qualified secondary school teacher) in order to have the school holidays free. However, when they had become more self-sufficient, Judith was able to become more adventurous. This resulted in her involvement, in 1985, in a government retraining course in Computing for Management, which led her into the pharmaceutical industry. Here she became a Clinical Trials Co-ordinator and learned about the heavily regulated nature of the business.
However, two years later, she reverted to her original interest in applied biology and agronomy when she was invited to join ICI at their internationally-renowned Jealotts Hill Research Station in Berkshire. But the increasing climate of change in the pharma business led to reorganization in ICI and later to the divestment of the agro- chemical and seeds division by what had become Astra-Zeneca, in the year 2000 and its incorporation into a newly formed Anglo-Swiss firm, Syngenta.
Here, she manages a team of scientific auditors who review safety studies of the company, associated with the activity of new chemicals (mainly herbicides) and their potential effects on the environment. Often, these studies are carried out abroad and are regulated by the demands of Good Laboratory Practice standards, or GLP. The audit team who have practical experience of these studies, provide audit, compliance advice and training in GLP services to the study staff. For Judith, herself, this work has meant visits to Japan, South Africa, Latin America and many parts of Europe. When the inspection of third party contractors was involved some years ago for a large study in Canada, Judith had to visit every province in the country!
Since 1992, Judith has been closely involved with training programmes provided for the agri, pharma and chemical industries by the British Association of Research Quality Assurance (or BARQA). Her initial link with APU was twelve years ago, when she was invited to contribute to the designing of a course for the British Association of Research Quality Assurance/APU Diploma for compliance advisors that was then part of a programme developed by BARQA and administered by Anglia (then) Polytechnic. In addition to professional development courses, Judith has designed an academic Diploma in Research Quality Assurance programme for auditors/inspectors/compliance advisors in the key industries mentioned and become involved in BARQA's Residential Courses (usually held at Madingley Hall Conference Centre in Cambridge) twice becoming Chair of the BARQA Education and Training Committee in 1998 and 2001. In that same year she was presented the BARQA Award for contributions to Professional Development. At this time, a higher academic award was in demand from BARQA members and she collaborated with APU's Enterprise and Innovation Office in designing a most successful dedicated Masters Programme, recently updated and validated in Applied Sciences in 2003. During this time, she has consistently supported APU Quality Management programmes, not least as the BARQA representative on the programmes Dissertation Management Group."