Stacey Mottershaw

Profile

I joined Leeds University Business School (LUBS) in September 2018, where my teaching focuses on business ethics and employabilty. My role also includes being an academic personal tutor, module leader for our faculty-wide year in industry programme and a dissertation supervisor. Prior to joining Leeds I worked at the University of Sheffield for over 10 years, across a range of departments including study abroad, outreach, law and engineering.

Alongside my role in LUBS I am pursuing my Doctorate in Education (EdD) at the University of Sheffield. My thesis explores the career decisions, journeys and trajectories of academics from working-class backgrounds.

I am a committee member for the Alliance of Working-Class Academics (AWCA) and the Working-Class Studies Association, for which I am also Chair Elect (incoming 2026-27) of the Working-Class Academics Section.

Since December 2023 I have been Trustee of the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON).

Resources:

• Listening Rooms Toolkit
• Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence (LITE) Podcast ‘Listening Rooms’
• Academics of Working-Class Heritage Talking project site
• Ensuring all student voices are heard: case study
• How Might We Guide: engaging with student voices

Selected and keynote conference presentations:

• November 2025. ‘Experiences of Belonging: Working-class Students and Higher Education’, ​ co-delivered with Rachael O’Connor and Nadine Cavigioli. UWE Bristol. Online.
• July 2025. Workshop: Class-Conscious, Trauma Informed Practice - How to support and care for working-class students, co-delivered with Rachael O’Connor and Nadine Cavigioli. Teaching Excellence Academy Teaching & Learning Conference, University of Hull. Online.
• July 2025. Workshop: Pedagogy with Purpose – ​Centring social class, collaboration and community in higher education, workshop co-delivered with Nadine Cavigioli. Centre for Innovation in Higher Education, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.
• June 2025. Invited keynote: ‘Three Dimensions of Success: Identity, Pedagogy and Equity’. University of South Wales Learning and Teaching Conference, Trefforest, Wales.
• June 2025. “Would they produce a higher quality of work if they felt they were being more authentic?”: The (de)valuing of authentic connections in teaching and learning’, co-delivered with Mike Reynolds. EuroSoTL 2025. University of Groningen.
• December 2024. ‘Is ‘solidarity’ the most important word in the language of the working-class academic?’. SRHE Annual Conference. East Midlands Conference Centre.
• November 2023. 'Common ground: Using authenticity to make connections in teaching', co-delivered with Mike Reynolds. ISSOTL 2023. Utrecht, The Netherlands.
• July 2023. 'Changes to delivery of academic personal tutoring', co-delivered with Anna Viragos. Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE) Showcase. Online.
• June 2023. Invited keynote: ‘Flexible learning and higher education: a recipe for under-represented student success?’. Advance HE Flexible Learning Symposium. 14th June 2023. The Studio, Leeds.

Responsibilities

• School Ethics Lead for Business, Environment & Social Sciences
• Co-Director, Centre for Scholarship and Research in Business Education (ScRiBE)

Research interests

My research predominantly seeks to understand the needs of marginalised groups in higher education, with a focus on equitable and socially just career development work. I am particularly interested in qualitative research methods that provide an inclusive, creative and alternative approach to data collection, such as Listening Rooms and photo elicitation.

As Co-Director of Scholarship and Research in Business Education (ScRiBE), I support colleagues within Leeds University Business School and beyond to design, conduct and publish educational research.

Qualifications

• PG Diploma and QCD, Career Development - Nottingham Trent University
• MA (Hons) Political Theory - University of Sheffield
• BA (Hons) Philosophy - University of Sheffield

Professional memberships

• Alliance of Working-Class Academics (AWCA)
• Career Development Institute (CDI)
• Recognised Senior Adviser (RSA), UK Advising and Tutoring (UKAT)
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• Society for Research in Higher Education (SRHE)
• Working-Class Studies Association (WCSA)

Student education

Since joining LUBS in September 2018, I have taught on a range of modules covering academic and employability skills, business ethics, CSR and sustainability. I have supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations, and support students undertaking a year-in-industry. I have been personal tutor to hundreds of undergraduate students, with particular expertise in supporting students from under-represented backgrounds.

In 2021 I won the Faculty Early Career Teaching Award and came runner-up in the Personal Tutoring category of the University Partnership Awards. In 2023 I won the Faculty Global Award for my contribution to the Leeds International Summer School.