After working as a commercial insurance broker and liability investigator, I returned to academe to complete a PhD at the University of Leeds. I then worked as a lecturer at the University of Leicester before joining the Management School.

Teaching

My teaching ethos is underpinned by a firm belief in the power of student inquiry. To this end, I see my role as a facilitator to the best student learning experience possible and as a consequence, three tenets underpin my approach to teaching: experiential learning; critical reflection; helping students to become effective independent learners. I believe in research-led teaching and incorporate this into my teaching practice through, for example, the use of contemporary case studies and findings from my own research. I contribute to teaching on Strategic Management at levels 1 and 2 (MGT136 Management Themes and Perspectives and MGT231 Business Strategy). I also lead postgraduate modules in Crisis Management (MGT6810 and MGT6215).

As Departmental Learning and Teaching Advocate, I have contributed to learning and teaching enhancement in the Management School across a range of areas, including, curriculum development, assessment and feedback. In order to facilitate effective student learning and enhance the student experience, I have carried out a number of learning and teaching projects.

• ‘Critical skills enhancement for UG students’ funded by CILASS in the sum of £1,624. This supported extra-curricular student work shops on generic skills development. Project completed 2011.
• ‘Inquiry based learning in the consultancy process’ funded by CILASS in the sum of £5,600 (with J. Kawalek). Project completed 2008.
• ‘Learning from crisis’ funded by Business in the Curriculum, HEIF-2 initiative in the sum of £15,000. Project completed in 2007.
• ‘Undergraduate level 1 professional skills development’ funded by the Departmental/Faculty L&T Innovations Fund in the sum of £5,258 (with K. Moore), Project completed in April 2007.
• £9,690 funded by CILASS for ‘Facilitating collaborative inquiry through the level 1 curricula’ (with L. Lewis). Project completed 2007. 

As part of my professional development I have successfully completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and a Masters in Education.

In 2006, I received a Senate Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Sustained Excellence category). I was made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2007.

Research

My research focuses upon two broad, but overlapping areas, namely business risk and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). More particularly, these can be broken down into distinct research strands: the influence of corruption upon organisational strategic decision-making in multinational enterprises; organisational preparedness and business continuity practice; strategy practice in SMEs.

PhD Supervision

I have supervised a number of PhD students. I am currently supervising two PhD students: Rebecca Messham ‘Doing business underwater: flooding, entrepreneurship and resilience (with Prof. Greg Bankoff, University of Hull; funded by the White Rose Consortium) and Louise Patterson ‘Understanding employment discrimination against educated women in South Korea’ (with Prof. Geoff Wood, University of Warwick).

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas:

• organisational risk and resilience
• business continuity management
• flood risk management
• corruption