Dr. Stephen Little is an external doctoral supervisor at the Centre for Islamic Finance. In 2013 he retired from the Open University Business School having headed the Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Enterprise with previous appointments in Information Systems in Australia and the UK and visiting posts in the UK, Netherlands and Australia.He graduated in both architecture and applied psychology at Aston University before advising community groups and practising in Manchester and Glasgow, completing a PhD in Design Research at the Royal College of Art, London in 1983.

As Chairman of the Asia Pacific Technology Network he participated in ministerial level meetings between UK and East Asian delegates. As a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association he researches the global migration of skilled labour, the contribution of large science projects to innovation in the wider economy and the role of place-branding and heritage in regional development.He co-edited a book on Global Entrepreneurship in 2017 and is currently collaborating on an entrepreneurship module at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria