Thursday 4th September 2025 I 11:00 – 12:00 BST
Keynote Panel Summary
Borders don’t just occur at geographical points in space or only relate to movement between countries and regions. Individuals also experience borders in the bounded spaces of their lives, and can be understood as ‘daily border crossers’, traversing the boundary between their work and non-work lives on an everyday basis. Additionally, individuals are also ‘life event border crossers’ as they move between different parts of their lives across time, influenced by occasions, incidents, consequences and aftermaths.
Every day and life borders are the products of society with the experience of crossing them impacted by personal resources and social characteristics. Forms of difference such as gender, class or race can mean that the experience of crossing everyday and life borders varies, and is more challenging when differences fall outside the norm.
The keynote speakers on this panel bring extensive understanding and experience of social borders and will draw out the challenge of navigating non-neutral boundaries.
Chair:
Professor Chidiebere (Chidi) Ogbonnaya
Professor Chidiebere (Chidi) Ogbonnaya is a Professor of Human Resource Management at King’s College London. His research explores key areas such as job quality, employment relations, business ethics, responsible leadership, well-being, and performance.
Recently, his work has focused on the employment experiences of disadvantaged workers in emerging economies, analyzing strategies and policies for sustainable development. This research agenda has attracted substantial funding from multiple sources, amounting to approximately £8.2 million over his career. Chidi's work is widely published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Management, Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Human Resource Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and the Human Resource Management Journal.
Additionally, his research has been featured in prominent practitioner and media outlets such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Forbes, Financial Times, and The Times. Chidi also brings extensive editorial expertise, having previously served as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Business Research. He currently holds the same editorial role at Human Relations and the Journal of Management Studies.
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Yvonne Benschop
Professor Yvonne Benschop is the Vice Dean of Research and Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Institute for Management Research at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
She is the director of the interdisciplinary research group Gender and Power in Politics and Management. She has received multiple grants from Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, FP7, ESF-EQUAL, NWO-STW, several Ministries in the Netherlands and Flanders, and private organizations for her work on the responsibility of organizations for gender equality, diversity and inclusion that is inspired by feminist organization theories and critical management studies.
She has published widely on formal and informal organization processes that produce organizational inequalities, and on interventions to sustain organizational change to intersectional equality. Recent research interests are at the crossroads of postfeminism, technofeminism and environmental feminism. Publications in English have appeared in journals such as Organization, Organzization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Theory, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Gender, Work and Organization, and Human Relations.
She has served as co-editor in chief of Organization and sits on multiple editorial boards. She is the Chair of the Dutch Network of Female Professors, and received a royal distinction for her research performance (email: [email protected]
Kali Hamerton-Stove
Kali Hamerton-Stove is co-founder of The Glasshouse project, a community interest company that harnesses horticulture and work to provide viable second chances for women in the justice system.
Established in 2020 in the disused greenhouses of HMP East Sutton Park, The Glasshouse works with women in the last years of their prison sentence, providing training and employment, working with leading corporate clients including C Hoare Bank, France’s Crick, Pearson and RenaissanceRe. With a 0% reoffending rate, compared to the national rate of 56%, The Glasshouse is an example of how productive and fulfilling employment can rebuild self belief and help women find a better way of life after custody.
Kali and The Glasshouss received the coveted RHS Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2024 for their exhibit conceived, designed and built by women in custody or recently released.
