Dr Cliff Li

Dr Cliff Li is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Director of Education for the Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (ITE) sub-department at the University of Exeter Business School. He is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA) and an experienced academic leader in inclusive, innovative, and scalable entrepreneurship education.

Cliff provides strategic and operational leadership across the department’s education portfolio, supporting over 30 academic colleagues, 55 adjunct/PTAs, and approximately 4,500 students. His responsibilities span curriculum development, quality assurance, teaching enhancement, academic mentoring, and policy implementation. He has supported transformative initiatives such as the creation of the With Proficiency in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WPII&E) pathway at UG level, the with Innovation and Entrepreneurship pathway at PG level, the roll-out of the ELE2 learning platform and more recently the Curriculum Management System, and the integration of interdisciplinary entrepreneurship offerings across departments.

A strong advocate for pedagogical innovation, Cliff has pioneered the use of gamification, simulation-based learning (SimVenture Evolution), and generative AI in assessment design. He leads the Shared Wisdom Memoire on teaching efficiency at scale, featured in a series of eight Exeter’s EduExe blogs. His module leadership has consistently yielded high student satisfaction (e.g., 4.6/5 for Business Simulation), and his scalable teaching innovations have supported both efficiency and engagement in large cohorts (900+ students).

Cliff also plays a central role in academic mentoring, having supported colleagues in gaining FHEA, SFHEA, and PFHEA status and in preparing for education leadership roles. He is an Advance HE-trained External Examiner and contributes to sector-wide conversations as Teaching and Learning Lead for the British Academy of Management (BAM) Entrepreneurship SIG, where he organises national workshops and conference streams.

His research spans responsible innovation in non-Western contexts, entrepreneurial resilience, and entrepreneurship education, with publications in leading journals including Small Business Economics, Journal of Responsible Innovation, Simulation & Gaming, and Journal of Family Business Management.

Cliff holds a PhD and MSc (Distinction) in Management from the University of Exeter and has been active in the institution’s teaching, research, and widening participation communities since 2011.