Research Development Workshop

Dr Theano Lianidou

Associate Professor of Management, Richmond American University London

Dr Theano Lianidou is an Associate Professor of Management at Richmond American University London. Her teaching interests include management, leadership, organizational behavior, and research methods. Furthermore, she serves as a dissertation advisor. Her research interests include leadership, social status, gender, and corporate social purpose. Her work has been published in leading journals, including the International Journal of Management Reviews, British Journal of Management, Leadership, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Journal of Business Research, and Human Resource Management Journal.

Before joining academia, Theano worked as a corporate executive in various countries, including Greece, Italy, and Poland. During her corporate career, she held senior management positions with multinational companies, such as Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, PZ Cussons, and Mars Inc.

Theano holds a PhD from the Stevens Institute of Technology and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Dr Ijeoma Ukeni

Lecturer, Huddersfield Business School

Dr Ijeoma G. Ukeni (fondly known as Ije) is a distinguished lecturer at Huddersfield Business School with extensive research and teaching experience in leadership, ethics, OB and HRM-related studies. As a leadership expert, she is interested in servant leadership and ethics-based leadership philosophies and is open to collaborative and impactful research engagements in related fields.

Ijeoma is a member of the SURGE and CeBAS research centre in HBS. Gaining entrance into HE teaching practice in 2017, Ijeoma has continued to enhance classroom engagement and student retention by being knowledgeable, approachable and supportive of students. Her research also informs her teaching, as reflected in modules (she leads) such as Managing People in International Context, Employment relations, Advanced Organisational Behaviour, HRM practice and theory and Leadership, theory and Practice.

She became a fellow of Advanced HE (FHEA) in 2020 and is currently a member of the Society for Research in Higher Education. She has published articles, book chapters and other pieces and is a reviewer for reputable journals.

Professor Christian Harrison

Professor of Leadership and Enterprise, University of Bolton

Christian Harrison is a Professor of Leadership and Enterprise at the University of Greater Manchester UK and the Director of the Centre for Leadership and Empowerment. He is also the Head of the Research and Doctoral College of the Off Campus Division. He leads the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for Business and Management in the Business School and is a well-known scholar in leadership, contributing to media outlets like STV, Scotland Tonight, and the Guardian Nigeria. He has authored numerous research papers and books, including the bestselling Leadership Theory and Research: A Critical Approach to New and Existing Paradigms.

Christian chairs the Leadership and Leadership Development SIG of the British Academy of Management and the Academy for African Studies. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Certified Management and Business Educator, and a Fellow of the Institute of Business Administration and Knowledge Management. He serves on several editorial boards and panels, and as an external examiner for many UK universities.

An expert consultant and speaker, he has delivered leadership training to the Scottish Government Directors, NHS, SMEs, and a host of others. Professor Harrison’s accolades include an Honorary Doctor of Innovation in Leadership, 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award and multiple Excellence Awards. He is also the founder of The Leadership Mould Initiative International, championing leadership development globally.

Prof Doris Schedlitzki

Professor in Organisational Leadership, London Metropolitan University

Prof Doris Schedlitzki is a Professor in Organisational Leadership at Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, having worked as Associate Professor and Faculty Lead for Apprenticeships previously at UWE and prior to that as Senior Lecturer in HRM & OB with Oxford Brookes University.

Her main research focus is on leadership and explores the areas of cultural studies of leadership, discourse and leadership, leadership as identity, psychoanalytic approaches to leadership and the role of national language within cultural leadership studies. She is currently involved in several projects and collaborations related to these different areas with UK and international colleagues in leadership and management studies, history and linguistics.

A secondary research interest of hers is exploring nature, purpose and use of blended learning approaches and developing innovative methods for critical reflection and leadership development pedagogy.

Her recent publications include articles in Leadership, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Management Learning, International Journal of Management Reviews, Human Relations, International Journal of Management Education, as well as a textbook on Leadership entitled 'Studying Leadership: Traditional and Critical Approaches' (Sage) - currently in its second edition - and an edited book on Worldly Leadership (Palgrave).

Professor David Sarpong

Co-Vice Chair: Academic Affairs of Conference and Capacity Building

David Sarpong is Professor of Strategy and the Marketing and Strategy Subject Group Head at Aston Business School, Aston University. An elected Vice Chair of the British Academy of Management (BAM), David serves on the BAM Council’s Sub-Committee of Academic Affairs of Conference and Capacity Building (AACCB), and is a former Convenor of the Annual Doctoral Symposium of the Academy. A Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) Laboratory for Economics of Innovation, David has since 2015 conducted research on Russia's Basic Research Program (RBRP) on 'Global Competitiveness’ at the National Research University in Moscow. He is Associate Editor for the Journal of Strategy and Management, and currently enjoys a Visiting Professorship at the Bristol Business School, and an Honorary Research Fellowship at the School of Management, Information Technology, and Public Governance, University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.