Recognising research excellence
Celebrating the Dean’s Awards for Research Excellence 2026.
On Friday 19 June 2026, Leeds University Business School held its annual staff research conference at Cloth Hall Court, Leeds.
This year’s conference focused on “sustainable research and doing research sustainably” with a morning panel session, chaired by Dr Rajinder Bhandal, on radical sustainability research. The event also featured parallel sessions, where our academics got a chance to share their research with colleagues from different departments across the School and gain insightful feedback; a session on the upcoming REF; and a panel session, chaired by Dr Sally Chan, on research impact through collaboration and engagement.
A highlight of the day was the Dean’s Awards for Research Excellence. Professor Julia Bennell, Executive Dean of Leeds University Business School, said: “The awards are an opportunity to highlight and celebrate research excellence and achievements at the Business School, recognising and rewarding individual researchers at different stages in their careers. Congratulations to all our winners.”
Research Excellence Award – Early Career: Leila Gautham
Dr Leila Gautham is an outstanding early-career scholar whose research makes highly original, rigorous and internationally recognised contributions at the intersection of labour economics and feminist economics. Her research reframes how we conceptualise inequality, by demonstrating that living standards cannot be understood through market income alone when a large share of consumption depends on unpaid labour.
With a distinctive, coherent research programme, growing leadership through doctoral supervision and external engagement, and clear evidence of future research leadership, she exemplifies the criteria for the Research Excellence Award – Early Career.
Research Excellence Award – Research Leadership: Joint winners - Charles Umney and Costas Katsikeas
Professors Charles Umney and Costas Katsikeas are deserving joint recipients of the Research Excellence Award – Research Leadership, each demonstrating outstanding and complementary strengths in their respective fields.
Charles has produced field-defining, award-winning scholarship on work, digitalisation and labour politics, combining sustained publication in top-ranked journals with influential editorial leadership and exceptional contribution to research culture and capacity building within the School and the wider discipline.
Costas is an internationally leading scholar in global marketing, with sustained publication in elite FT50 journals, shaping foundational debates through a coherent and evolving research programme that builds on conceptual integration, methodological rigour, and continued relevance, and providing discipline level leadership through senior editorial roles and the founding of the Global and Strategic Marketing Research Centre (GLOSMARC).
Together, they represent research leadership of the highest calibre, advancing knowledge, shaping their fields, and strengthening the Business School’s international research standing.
Research Impact Excellence – Early Career: Jack Daly
Jack has shown impact leadership by independently embedding a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) toolkit across supply chain organisations, as a result of the “examining the scope for improving performance through diversity and inclusion in National Highways’ supply chain” project. He leads on the implementation of interventions, adjusting the strategy depending on the scale of the organisation and stage of the infrastructure project.
Importantly, through the Management Knowledge Transfer Partnership (MKTP), Jack manages and coordinates research activities between National Highways and suppliers, and has independently formed new connections to facilitate impact and embed the project findings across the sector.
Research Impact Excellence - Impact Leader: Chee Yew Wong
Professor Chee Yew Wong is recognised for his sustained leadership in translating world-leading supply chain research into clear and measurable policy, industry and organisational impact.
Through leading multiple high-value Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, informing the Government Office for Science’s Future of Global Supply Chain project, and shaping industry practice via the Collaboration Playbook, his research has delivered demonstrable benefits including major cost savings, digital transformation and resilience building in organisations.
His strategic engagement, partnership building and mentoring position him as a recognised research leader whose work exemplifies outstanding, impactful scholarship at scale.
Visit our Research and Innovation pages to find out more about how our research addresses complex global and regional challenges by bringing together diverse perspectives from academia, business, policy and the public.
