Dr Sanjay Popat wins the annual Grigor McClelland Doctoral Dissertation Award

A former Postgraduate Researcher from the Management Department, Dr Sanjay Popat,  has won the annual Grigor McClelland Doctoral Dissertation Award.

The prestigious award is supported by the Journal of Management Studies (JMS) and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS), and it was presented at the 2024 EGOS Conference in Milan.

This award is given out to the best PhD from the field of Management globally, and over the years it has been won by PGRs from other high-ranking universities such as Harvard and Yale. This is only the second time a PGR from a UK university has won the award.

Sanjay’s research, titled ’Only Time Will Tell: The Temporality of Occupational Stress in Foundation Doctors’, provides vital insight into how stress can be managed and has already been presented to the UK Parliament. Moreover, JMS called the research 'groundbreaking' and noted that it 'made significant contributions to the understanding of occupational stress'. 

Reflecting on his achievement, Sanjay commented:

Winning this award means the world to me as the thesis went through a rigorous vetting procedure from a panel of senior scholars at JMS, SAMS, and EGOS. To be recognised on a global scale serves as a powerful motivation to continue pursuing innovating and meaningful contributions that not only advance theory but have a real impact on society. This really is the icing on the cake after a wonderful PhD experience, knowing that all the hard work paid off. Thank you to the junior (now resident) doctors who participated in my research, my family, and my supervisors for their support!

Sanjay’s PhD was supervised by Dr Samuel Farley, Dr Helen Hughes, and Dr Anna Viragos. We are all excited to see where his career will take him.