About The Green Edge
The Green Edge was launched in 2021 to collate, review and synthesise the fast-expanding array of green workforce and skills reports emerging from across the UK economy and internationally. It has since become a comprehensive and up to date source for green jobs and skills-related publications in the UK.
The Green Edge is co-authored and produced by Dr. Michael Cross and Fraser Harper. Previously, Michael and Fraser co-founded and ran Blue Mirror Insights, a boutique skills consultancy established in 2017 to support technical and vocational training (TVET) development projects for clients in the UK and the Middle East. Through their work with Blue Mirror Insights, Michael and Fraser found their interests moving more and more towards the field of skills discovery for sustainability and the environment, and this became a key driver for the creation of The Green Edge.
Through the lens of green jobs and skills, Michael and Fraser are close watchers of all aspects of the green economy and the UK’s progression towards Net Zero. To support the online Green Edge newsletter and podcast series they examine the green economy at many levels, from international and government policy, through local delegation and action, to individual stories at company and even personal levels. They often liken it to ‘turning over stones in the green river’.
Dr Michael Cross leads research and content creation at The Green Edge. Based in London, Michael holds a portfolio of posts alongside The Green Edge, including Regent at the University of Edinburgh, Chair of Twyford Church of England Academies Trust and Teach West London, and an ambassador for the Data Driven Innovation programme for the Edinburgh City Region. Formerly he held senior posts across a wide range of businesses and sectors, including Navigate Group (chair and co-founder), Bloomsbury Bio-seed Fund (founder board member), Rezatec (co-founder and director), and the Plastics Processing ITB (founder board member).
Michael is also an experienced occupation researcher and analyst and has held fellowships at Durham University, City University, Manchester Business School, the Technical Change Centre at Imperial College, and the London School of Economics. He has written numerous papers and books on occupation content and job design.
Fraser Harper is responsible for the production of The Green Edge. He is a writer, musician, media producer and green economy advocate living on the South Coast of England. Formerly he was an engineer, consultant, project manager and data specialist, and before co-founding Blue Mirror Insights spent ten years with business angel networks supporting young tech businesses through their startup periods.
Originally trained in aeronautical engineering, in previous lives Fraser worked across a range of complex business and technical environments, including government, space and defence, energy and commodity trading, legal and financial services, upstream and downstream oil, metals production, CPG and process sectors.
