2022: A year of achievements for the Business School’s researchers

Before we become too immersed in the challenges and opportunities 2023 has to offer, we’d like to acknowledge some of the fantastic achievements of our colleagues at Leeds University Business School, highlighting a selection of their prizes, awards and accolades from the last year. 

Members of the Business School have been appointed to numerous editorial boards, including: 

• Shima Amin - Journal of Global Finance, and International Review of Economics and Finance 
•  Andy Charlwood - International Journal of Human Resource Management 
• Valeriya Dinger - Economics of Transition and Institutional Change 
• Peter Gittins  - International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation 
• Aida Hajro - Human Resource Management, and Journal of International Business Studies 
• Kate Hardy - New Technology, Work and Employment 
• Asiya Islam - Feminist Review 
• Danilo Mascia - European Journal of Finance 
• Josh Morton - Journal of Strategic Information Systems 
• Chris Pitelis - European Management Review 
• Lynda Song - Scandinavian Journal of Management, and Asia Pacific Journal of Management 
• Danat Valizade - Work, Employment and Society 
• Bin Xu - International Journal of Finance and Economics 
• Qin Zhou - Journal of Management.  

Colleagues have also held positions as guest editors:  

• Cyntia Calixto Casnici - Critical Perspectives in International Business 
• Stefan Kesting - Review of Evolutionary and Political Economy 
• Muhammad Ali Nasir - Energy Economics. 

Many congratulations to Omar Al-Tabbaa, Sourindra Banerjee, Peter Buckley, Alex Kevill, Sonya Lin, Surender Munjal and Muhammad Ali Nasir, who all received nominations and awards for their recent publications, and Gary Dymski who was a Co-Investigator on the Productivity Insights Network project, which received a Runner-Up Award at the ESRC Impact Awards ceremony at the Royal Society in London. 

Peer Review College and grant assessor positions have been taken up by Deema Refai (British Academy), Yingqi (Annie) Wei (British Academy of Management), Xingjie Wei (ESRC Digital Society Network Plus), and Chee Yew Wong (UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships). 

Hanna Gajewska-De Mattos will serve as the Chair of the Academy of International Business Doctoral Consortium 2023 in Warsaw, Poland. Jana Javornik became an Expert Adviser to the Slovene Ministry of Public Administration on their Expert Group on the future and ethics of work and Expert Adviser to the European Commission and their expert group for creating synergies between HEA and ERA. Andrew Robinson accepted an invitation to become a Faculty Fellow and Mentor of the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University, USA. Mark Stuart has been made a Fellow of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association, and  Chiahuei Wu was appointed a member of the Research Committee of the International Association for Chinese Management. 

We are delighted to see that over the last 12 months, there have been 19 publications in 4*-ranked journals (including the Journal of International Business Studies; Academy of Management Learning and Education; Journal of Management; Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science; Journal of Marketing; Human Resource Management Journal; Journal of Consumer Psychology; Personnel Psychology; and Research Policy), and 39 publications in 4-ranked journals. 

Since August 2022 (the start of the University’s financial year), members of the Business School have submitted external research and knowledge exchange funding applications totalling £6m. In the same period, external research funding of £1.2m has been secured, with 83% of this secured from UK Research Councils.  

Leeds University Business School colleagues working on these projects include:  

• Iain Clacher (exploring how climate and environmental risk analytics can support resilient finance systems) 
• Alex Kevill and Mariana Estrada-Nobles (investigating the transfer of digital capabilities from the classroom to the business in SMEs) 
• Helen Norman (researching parental involvement and its effects on children’s education) 
• Hanh Pham and Richard Hodgett (focussing on industrial digital technologies for UK SME exporting manufacturers) 
• Jennifer Tomlinson, Danat Valizade and Kathryn Watson (examining the scope for improving performance through diversity and inclusion in National Highways’ supply chain) 
• Charles Umney, Gabriella Alberti and Gary Graham (looking at how digital technologies shape work and employment conditions in warehouses in Europe) 
• Nick Wilson (researching whether Private Equity firms create value) 
• Nick Wilson and Marek Kacer (exploring business finance forecasting and policy modelling) 
• Chee Yew Wong (developing an AI-powered tool for fashion and textile companies to assess and reduce social and environmental supply chain risks for the textile and apparel sector) 
• Jyoti Mishra and Chee Yew Wong (working with LBBC to develop the requirement and scope for a digital transformation project and Enterprise Resource Planning implementation). 

Special mention must also go to Andy Brown and Gary Dymski who are leading on a £4m Research England Development Fund award for their Yorkshire and Humber Policy Engagement and Research Network – Y-PERN. The pan-regional project will deliver a novel network-based approach to inclusive and place-based academic policy engagement and research. By enhancing the effectiveness of inclusive regional development policy and strategy, Y-PERN will play a critical role in fulfilling the commitment made in a Regional Memorandum of Understanding between Yorkshire Universities (a group of 12 Higher Education Institutions) and Yorkshire and Humber Councils (22 Local Authorities and two Mayoral Combined Authorities) to work together on Levelling-Up. 

We also had a successful Research Excellence Framework (REF) outcome, with 90% of the Business School’s submitted research deemed either ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ overall. The results reflect the School’s mission to have a positive impact on society, the economy and the world. In particular, 100% of our REF environment is of world class or internationally excellent quality, which shows our commitment to research that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and that engages local, national and international partnerships.   

We recognise that excellence in both research and the student experience can only be achieved through a culture of inclusivity and equity. All staff in the Business School work within the University’s Equality and Inclusion Framework and are provided with resources and training to allow them to actively engage in developing their skills and knowledge. Our drive for inclusivity is guided by the Business School’s own Equality and Inclusion Committee, which meets regularly to review and improve inclusive practices across the School.  

We remain strongly committed to supporting and developing our researchers at all stages of their career. At Leeds University Business School, researchers are: integrated into their department, research centres and the University; developed through a variety of programmes and initiatives including through the Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI), and University and Faculty led training and development workshops; given access to a wide range of internal funding schemes to support research agendas and a Faculty study leave scheme; and provided with access to high-quality facilities and expertise.   

The Faculty Research and Innovation Office supports various aspects of researcher development including: dedicated support for external funding applications and support for the Faculty’s portfolio of external research grants; access to financial support for research activities such as conference attendance, international collaborations, journal submission, and impact and research engagement support; bringing together interdisciplinary researchers through a full programme of research events across the School and University; engaging with businesses and policy-makers through the Faculty’s Ideas in Practice seminars series and Nexus; developing external partnerships through consultancy; and developing effective communication channels to showcase research activity.  

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our colleagues and thank them all for contributing to another vibrant and successful year. We’re looking forward to building on this success in 2023, contributing to our research mission to co-create new knowledge to resolve economic and societal challenges for the benefit of all.