The School’s vibrant postgraduate research community has seen 109 completions since 2014 and there are currently 164 researching with us. PG researchers play an integral role in the research culture of the School, participating in many of our Research Interest groups as well as running their own events and conferences.
See a showcase below of some of our PG researchers and the projects they are carrying out.
Amal Abdellatif
Department: Accounting & Financial Management
Supervisor: Dr Karim Sorour, Professor Jamie Callahan, Professor Philip Shrives
Title of thesis: Women on Boards: A Qualitative Inquiry of the Antecedents and Barriers to Boardrooms Gender Diversity in Developing Countries, the Case of Egyptian Banking Sector
After eight years of management experience within the pharmaceutical industry, I shifted my pharmaceutical career to pursue my growing passion for research and education. In 2017, I was awarded my International MBA degree with Distinction form Birmingham City University before I start my Doctoral research journey in 2018 at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. My research focuses on gender diversity on boards and I explore women's lived experiences of the facilitators and barriers to their representation on boards. My research interests include gender equality, racial justice, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality. I teach on modules with core focus on gender, leadership and career progress.
Contact: amal.abdellatif@northumbria.ac.uk
Twitter: @Amal_Abdelatif
LinkedIn: Amal Abdellatif
Publications:
Abdellatif, A., & Gatto, M. (2020). It’s OK not to be OK: Shared reflections from two PhD parents in a time of pandemic. Gender, Work & Organization, 27(5), 723-733.
Abdellatif, A. (2020). Marginalized to double marginalized: My mutational intersectionality between the East and the West. Gender, Work & Organization.
Joseph Mellors
Department: Leadership and Human Resource Management
Supervisor: Dr Valerie Egdell
Title of thesis: Embracing the gig economy? Choice versus necessity in late-life-working
I completed my BSc in Management at Alliance Manchester Business School, before completing my MSc in International Development at Northumbria University. In January 2021, I began my PhD at Northumbria which concerns the experience of older workers in the gig economy. I hope that my research will contribute to policy development on ageing and the future of work.
Contact: j.mellors@northumbria.ac.uk
Sally Wightman
Department: Leadership and Human Resource Management
Supervisor: Dr Angus Robson
Title of thesis: The Role of Tradition in the Conceptualisation and Experience of Meaningful Work
I started my studying for my PhD in October 2019 following completing my undergraduate degree in Business Studies, also from Northumbria, in July 2018. My research considers whether and how tradition influences the meaning employees working for faith-based and secular third sector organisations in the North East derive from their work. I am a qualitative researcher adopting a comparative case study approach and am investigating this topic from a virtue ethics perspective through the work of moral philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre. My research builds on my undergraduate dissertation which was inspired by my year-in-industry when I worked for a Christian debt-counselling charity.
Contact: s.wightman@northumbria.ac.uk
José Ruiz del Portal Tranche
Department: Business and Law
Supervisor: Binam Ghimire
Title of thesis: FinTech and the Make-or-Buy Decision: A Valuation Model for Retail Banks Facing Disruptive Innovation.
I am a senior lecturer in Finance and Accounting at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of my research is to describe the decision-making process around the valuation of investments in FinTech innovation. As a result of this study, decision-makers can better understand the ‘opportunity cost’ related to the investment. From the theoretical perspective, valuation theories for the assessment of investments in sustaining and disruptive innovations will be tested. The real options theory, in combination with decision tree analysis, will be used to design a model for valuation of investments in FinTech innovation.
Contact: jose.tranche@northumbria.ac.uk
Valentin Nickolai
Department: Marketing, Operations & System
Supervisor: Dr. David Hart
Title of thesis: A Comparison of Satellite and Local Sports Fans’ Motivations for Social Media Engagement and its Effect on Fan Loyalty
I completed my BA and MA in International Management at accadis Hochschule in Germany. When I got the opportunity to start my PhD, I wanted to incorporate my personal interest in American sports, such as NHL and NFL. Nowadays, professional sports are largely consumed via digital media. Thus, my PhD compares social media behaviour and its effect on fan loyalty between local fans and fans that reside geographically distant to their favourite team. Through this comparison, special attention can be drawn to the needs of foreign fans, who have hardly been researched so far, and sports organisations receive valuable information about the internationalisation of their brand via digital media.
Publications: Pfeffel, F., Horn, I., Nickolai, V., & Ratz, M. (2020). Digitalisierung im Sportbusiness–Systematische Standortbestimmung und zukünftige Entwicklungsperspektiven. In Facetten der Digitalisierung (pp. 87-112). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
Antony Froggett
Department: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy (Faculty of Business and Law)
Supervisor: Nic Burton
Title of thesis: Quakers and Leadership
I was a teacher and later worked as a psychotherapist in the NHS before becoming involved in leadership training and development. I am also a Quaker. My qualitative research explores how Quakers in the UK engage with notions of leadership. Quakers have a strong leadership vision and a history of working for social change. At the same time, they have an egalitarian ideal and non-dualist philosophy that rejects conventional distinctions between leaders and followers. The research examines what it is like to inhabit this paradoxical ‘leaderless leadership space’ and the challenge this offers to romanticised versions of leadership within academia.
Contact: antony.froggett@northumbria.ac.uk
Publications: Froggett, A. (2017). Leadership. In C. Feltham, T. Hanley, & L. A. Winter (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (4th ed., pp. 127-132). London: Sage.
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