Dr Hanna Gajewska-De Mattos

Profile

Dr Hanna Gajewska-De Mattos is an Associate Professor in International Management and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She earned her PhD from the University of Leeds, funded by the European Union’s Phare ACE Scholarship Programme. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the human dimension of international business, research methods and doctoral education. Hanna has received multiple research awards, including the Distinguished Scholar Award at the Emerging Markets Inspiration Conference in the Stockholm Business School (2018) and the Danny Van Den Bulcke Best Paper Prize (2023), and she secured research funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe Programme (2025). Her teaching excellence has been recognised through the Leeds University Teaching Fellowship, several Dean’s Teaching Excellence Awards, and Best Dissertation Supervisor Partnership Award. Hanna has held a number of senior leadership roles at the University of Leeds, including a Director of Postgraduate Research Studies and a Director of Student Education. She was also the Chair of the Academy of International Business/Sheth Doctoral Consortium in Warsaw (2023). She currently serves on the Governing Board of the AIB-CIBER Doctoral Academy and she represents Leeds at the Nordic Research School of International Business (NORD-IB). She previously worked at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research in Brussels and served as an independent expert evaluator for several of the EU Framework Programmes.

Research interests

Dr Gajewska-De Mattos’s research is interdisciplinary and it is primarily concerned with the human dimension of international business, qualitative research methods in international business and doctoral education. She specialises in integrating insights from social anthropology, social and evolutionary psychology as well as archaeology, to understand the complexities of human interaction in the world of international business. A central theme in her research is the conceptualisation of culture and cultural difference with a particular emphasis on the human and emotional processes that underpin intercultural interaction and communication. More recently her research has expanded to encompass Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), trust and migration aspects of international business and management. She is also interested in refining and developing rigour and reach of qualitative research methodologies in international business. Her current interests within this theme include comparative theoretical reasoning and its implications for theory building in qualitative IB studies. She also explores how doctoral education in international business can be enhanced through international collaborative doctoral programmes.

Research Excellence Awards

Best Track Paper Award at the 50^th Annual EIBA Conference in Helsinki, Track 1 on the main conference theme That’s Interesting! Rethinking IB Research for the Next 50 Years for the paper “Why Do We Resist EDI? Rethinking EDI from and Evolutionary Psychology Perspective” with Rikka Harikkala-Laihinen and Jeremy Clegg (2024)

Danny Van Den Bulcke Best Paper Prize for the best International Business paper presented at the 49^th Annual European International Business Academy (EIBA) Conference in Lisbon for the paper “It’s personal! The emotional dimension of psychic distance perception in intercultural knowledge transfer” with Qiu Wang, Jeremy Clegg and Peter Buckley (2023)

Best Track Paper Award at the 49^th Annual EIBA Conference in Lisbon, Track 9 International HRM and Cross-Cultural Issues for the paper “It’s personal! The emotional dimension of psychic distance perception in intercultural knowledge transfer” with Qiu Wang, Jeremy Clegg and Peter Buckley (2023)

The Emerging Markets Inspiration Conference (EMIC) Distinguished Scholar Award, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University in Sweden (2018)

Supervised PhD Students Awards

Alireza Kamali, The International Management Division Best Reviewer Award at the Academy of Management (AoM) Annual Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark (2025)

Alireza Kamali, PGR Best Paper Award in International Business at the Leeds Universiy Business School Annual PhD Conference (2024)

Daniella Fjellstrom, the Neil Hood and Stephen Young prize for the most original new doctoral work at the Academy of International Business (AIB) UK and Ireland Chapter Conference (2010)

Brandon Charleston, a finalist at the Gunnar Hedlund Award competition for the best PhD thesis in the world in International Business, at the 35th European International Business Academy (EIBA) Conference in Valencia, Spain (2009)

Selected Funded Projects

The European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship: “Rethinking EDI Practice and Policy through Evolutionary Psychology” (with Riikka Harikkala-Laihinen)

The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Business Management Accountancy and Finance (BMAF) Teaching Research and Development Grant: "Development of materials for advanced research methods teaching and learning for postgraduate students in International Business" (with Jeremy Clegg and Eva Alfoldi)

The British Academy Small Research Grants: International Mergers and Acquisitions A Comparative Study of Managerial Perceptions in Germany, United Kingdom, and Poland (with Peter Buckley)

The European Unions Phare ACE 1998 Scholarships Programme: Mergers and Acquisitions in Poland: A Comparison of General Management Perceptions from Poland, Germany, and the UK

The European Unions Phare ACE 1996 Scholarships Programme: The Influence of the EU Competition Policy on Companies' Strategy Towards Mergers and Acquisitions: A Comparison of General Management Perceptions from Germany, UK, and Poland

Qualifications

• PhD in International Business, University of Leeds
• MA in European Studies, Akademia Ekonomiczna, Poznan, Poland
• TEMPUS exchange programme in European Studies, University of Bradford
• Postgraduate Diploma in Translation, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznan, Poland

Professional memberships

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Fellow of the Foundation of Management Education
• Academy of International Business
• European Academy of International Business

Student education

Dr Gajewska-De Mattos is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a graduate of the International Teachers Programme. Her academic focus lies in international business and management, with a particular emphasis on the cultural dimensions that shape human interaction and its outcomes in international business. Her teaching philosophy is learner focused to allow students’ own experience and knowledge to inform learning objectives. Over the years, she has designed, managed and delivered a wide range of international business related modules including Transition Economies in the New International Business Environment; Transnational Corporations in the World Economy; International Business Management; Research Methods for International Business and European Business. She currently leads and/or teaches the following modules: LUBS2405 Cross-Cultural Management; LUBS2820 Contemporary Topics in International Business and LUBS5921 Culture and Ethics in International Business.

Teaching Excellence Awards

Nominated for Positive Impact, Business School Partnership Award (LUBS) (2021)

Nominated for Best Supervisor, Business School Partnership Award (LUBS) (2019)

Best Supervisor, Business School Partnership Award (LUBS) (2018)

Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence, Leeds University Business School (LUBS) (2016)

Nominated for the Best Feedback Award in the Partnership Awards (2015)

Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence, Leeds University Business School (LUBS) (2012)

University Teaching Fellowship, The University of Leeds (2010)

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for International Business at the University of Leeds