Doctoral researchers in WOM

Birga Barthel

B.Barthel@liverpool.ac.uk

Leading through Future-related Sense-making: A Process-Sociological Approach

• 1^st Supervisor: Professor Mike Zundel
• 2^nd Supervisor: Dr Laura Radcliffe

Malika Ben Kahla

The journey to equitable representation and remuneration in organisations has been widely problematised in the literature, and the gendered nature of Academia is no exception.

This piece of qualitative research explores the experience of Women in Academia, considering the capacity of their maternal bodies and how they have navigated careers in the University setting.

Building on extant literature and key knowledge gaps, this qualitative research will focus on the careers of academics, individual intersectional identity, space, and social justice within the academic workplace.

The findings will generate important implications for managing and promoting Diversity and Inclusion in UK Academia, which may be relevant more broadly.

• 1^st Supervisor: Professor Caroline Gatrell
• 2^nd Supervisor: Professor Rory Donnelly
• 3rd Supervisor: Dr Emma Hughes

Ebru Calin

The empirical aim of this study is to move beyond the intersecting axes of gender and race by exploring experiences of what it is to be a homosexual or heterosexual person of faith and to capture how the interstices of religion and socially constructed notions of ‘good motherhood’ and ‘professionalism’ influence these individuals' employment experiences over time.

Thus, this proposed study addresses a pressing need for research that is both interdisciplinary and intersectional in its approach.

• 1^st Supervisor: Professor Caroline Gatrell
• 2^nd Supervisor: Dr Emma Hughes

TEDx Talk at Royal Central School London - “Too Brown, Queer & Muslim? Or not White, Muslim or Queer enough?”

Sharon Cooksey

Medical and veterinary practitioner (‘MVP’) professional degree courses (i.e., medical doctor, veterinary surgeon) select high proportions of high achiever, academically gifted undergraduate individuals (‘tall poppies’).

Post-graduation working MVPs exhibit extreme levels of poor mental health and suicide. These professions also suffer from chronic critically low retention rates.

The overarching research aim is to explore individual differences in the pursuit of achievement in high-achieving working adults. Specifically, to provide empirical evidence about why they matter, and how they might be leveraged to improve mental health and retention in MVPs and other high achiever populations.

Additionally, the work seeks to clarify the personality construct ‘perfectionism’ distinct from the motivation for achievement. In so doing, it challenges the widely held view that perfectionism is endemic and a primary cause of poor mental health in the MVP professions.

The research adopts a quantitative longitudinal design and includes a randomised (active) controlled intervention designed specifically for MVPs.

• 1^st Supervisor: Dr Joanne Lyubovnikova
• 2^nd Supervisor: Dr Mariella Miraglia

This research looks at how, in the absence of socially ascribed gender roles, do same-sex couples participate within the labour market after having children.

Specifically, it seeks to understand how same-sex couples ‘do gender’ or ‘redo gender’ through their anchoring and daily decision-making processes and the impact that has on the management of their work-family responsibilities.

Additionally, it will aim to understand how same-sex couples are affected by ‘motherhood penalties’ and ‘fatherhood premiums.’

• 1^st Supervisor: Dr Laura Radcliffe
• 2^nd Supervisor: Professor Caroline Gatrell

The research critically examines the extent to which the museum and gallery sector institutionalise exploitative practices whilst presenting themselves as progressive, with a focus on the understudied museum and gallery sectors.

It does so by critically examining the commodification and fetishisation of creative labour from a gendered perspective.

It utilises post structural feminist philosophies, and feminist Deleuzianism to approach questions of agency, embodiment and the body, and employs ethnographic methodologies.

• 1^st Supervisor: Professor Damian O'Doherty
• 2^nd Supervisor: Dr Daniela Pirani

Mya Kirkwood

Greater understanding of how neurodivergent employees and their managers experience inclusive leadership in practice will not only advance theory on inclusive leadership and neurodiversity inclusion; but crucially, it also holds the important potential to support the wellbeing and performance of neurodivergent employees, their managers, and organisations. 

Consequently, this research looks at how neurodivergent employees, and leaders of neurodivergent employees, define and experience “inclusive leadership” in daily practice.

Specifically, this research will analyse real-world contextual experiences of inclusive leadership, reported in interviews and daily diaries of leader-follower interactions kept by neurodivergent employees and managers of neurodivergent employees.

The project aims to identify behaviours, processes, and their contextual features, that constitute “inclusive leadership” from the perspectives of these individuals, in the aim of supporting organisations and managers towards more inclusive leadership practices for neurodivergent employees. 

• 1^st Supervisor: Dr Laura Radcliffe  
• 2^nd Supervisor: Dr Joanne Lyubovnikova
• 3^rd Supervisor: Professor Lilian Otaye-Ebede

Despite the recognition of the positive impact of diversity and inclusion on organizational financial performance, innovation, and decision-making, subtle forms of discrimination, such as gendered racial microaggressions, are often overlooked.

This study fills this gap by examining the impact of gendered racial microaggressions on the career fulfilment of black women supervisors in the workplace in England, with a focus on the role of workplace power dynamics and coping mechanisms of targets.

• 1^st Supervisor: Professor Lilian Otaye-Ebede
• 2^nd Supervisor: Professor Yves Guillaume

Lukas Pantke

L.K.Pantke@liverpool.ac.uk

Caring for Mid-Level Managers: Recovery Micro-Interventions to Reduce Burnout and Enhance Leadership

My research examines burnout among mid-level managers by focusing on recovery processes that support well-being and reduce the risk of burnout. I aim to develop and test recovery micro-interventions tailored to the demands of mid-level management. The objective is to generate practical, scalable solutions that reduce burnout and enhance leadership behaviour.

• 1^st Supervisor: Dr Joanne Lyubovnikova
• 2^nd Supervisor: Dr Pascale Daher

Grace Williams

Grace.Williams@liverpool.ac.uk

Parenting in non-standard employment: The experiences of parents navigating paid non-standard work and family life

• 1^st Supervisor: Dr Laura Radcliffe
• 2^nd Supervisor: Professor Caroline Gatrell