Dr Rachael Thompson

Assistant Professor

School: Newcastle Business School

Academic: Maternity Transitions | Parents at Work | Intersectionality | Leadership and Followership | Visual Research Methods

Assistant Professor at Northumbria University, Newcastle Business School. I lead on our MBA Top Up programme, hold several Module Tutor roles, and deliver teaching across a range of areas including leadership, personal development, reflective practice and research methods. I also supervise research students at Doctoral, Postgraduate and Undergraduate level. Qualified as an Insights Discovery Client Practitioner (Northumbria University, 2019) and achieved a Distinction for the PG Certificate in Coaching (2021) most recently. I currently hold an External Examiner position at University of Central Lancashire.

My current research interests centre on the lived experiences of working Parents, Maternity Transitions and Return to Work Journeys. I am also a co-lead on our "Mum Chat" group at Northumbria University, as part of the wider Parents & Carers Network.

An active member of the Followership research community, contributing publications via academic journals and book chapters, as well as leading on special issue editorials in the Journal of Management Development, New Directions for Student Leadership, and the journal of Industrial and Commercial Training. I have work published in Management Learning, Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Leadership Studies, the Journal of Leadership Education, and HRM Online. Winner of best paper at the International Leadership Associations Followership Symposium (2014, San Diego), subsequently delivering the closing plenary session. Other roles have included co-chairing the 1st Global Followership Conference (Canada, 2019), chairing the Followership Learning Community within the International Leadership Association (ILA) (2019-20) and being an invited discussion panel member at the ILA International Conference (Brussels, 2017). I hold a position on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal of Industrial and Commercial Training (2023).

Successfully awarded my doctorate in 2016, with my research focused on Followership within Public Sector contexts, utilising qualitative and visual research methodologies within this.

Campus Address

Northumbria University
City Campus East 1
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Rachael

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Academic: Maternity Transitions | Parents at Work | Intersectionality | Leadership and Followership | Visual Research Methods

My current research interests centre on the lived experiences of working Parents, Maternity Transitions and Return to Work Journeys. I am also a co-lead on our "Mum Chat" group at Northumbria University, as part of the wider Parents & Carers Network.

An active member of the Followership research community, contributing publications via academic journals and book chapters, as well as leading on special issue editorials in the Journal of Management Development, New Directions for Student Leadership, and the journal of Industrial and Commercial Training. I have work published in Management Learning, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Leadership Studies, the Journal of Leadership Education, and HRM Online. Winner of best paper at the International Leadership Associations Followership Symposium (2014, San Diego), subsequently delivering the closing plenary session. Other roles have included co-chairing the 1st Global Followership Conference (Canada, 2019), chairing the Followership Learning Community within the International Leadership Association (ILA) (2019-20) and being an invited discussion panel member at the ILA International Conference (Brussels, 2017). I hold a position on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal of Industrial and Commercial Training (2023).

Successfully awarded my doctorate in 2016, with my research focused on Followership within Public Sector contexts, utilising qualitative and visual research methodologies within this.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Learning from Poor Leadership Practice, Thompson, R., Patterson, N., Mavin, S., Corlett, S. 1 Sep 2025, In: Management Learning
The power of we in followership: Strategies for followership development, Thompson, R., Gresh, S., Hurwitz, M. 28 May 2021, In: Industrial and Commercial Training
Editor's Notes, Thompson, R., Hurwitz, M. 1 Sep 2020, In: New directions for student leadership
Followership Identity Work, Thompson, R. 1 Sep 2020, In: New directions for student leadership
Disrupting the leadership focus by facilitating the social construction of followership in the classroom: student responses to a visual method pedagogy, Morris, R., Corlett, S. 19 Jan 2017, In: The Journal of Leadership Studies
Followership, Hierarchies and Communication: Achieving or Negotiating Buy-in within the Public Sector?, Morris, R., Corlett, S. 3 Feb 2016, Followership in Action: Cases and Commentaries, Emerald
Exploring employee engagement with (corporate) social responsibility: A Social Exchange perspective on organisational participation, Slack, R., Corlett, S., Morris, R. Mar 2015, In: Journal of Business Ethics
Organizational influences upon following: capturing the context through the use of visual research diaries, Morris, R. Oct 2015, International Leadership Association Annual Conference - Leading Across Borders and Generations
Constructions of following from a relational perspective, Morris, R. 2014, Followership Symposium, International Leadership Association Conference 2014
Constructions of Following from a Relational Perspective: A Follower-Focused Study, Morris, R. Dec 2014, In: Journal of Leadership Education