Dr David Higgins BA, MBA, PCPD, MCMI, PhD, FHEA

Senior Lecturer in Management Strategy, IB and Entrepreneurship

Research

Research Overview

David’s research interest is primarily in the field of Entrepreneurial Education and learning through action. His research activity is focused towards exploring practice-based, processual as well as dialogic approaches to entrepreneurship education encompassing reflexive learning and practical wisdom. David’s current work is focused towards exploring the role of dialogism as a pedagogical practice in entrepreneurship education. His research adopts a relational social constructionist perspective where he adopts a self-critical reflexive position to explore the practice of dialogism in pedagogical inquiry, utilising various methods such as action research, art-based methods and collaborative auto-ethnographic approaches as a means to better appreciate how we educate entrepreneurship students and practitioners.

Awards & Recognition
Emerald Reviewer Award (2015) - International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research (IJEBR).
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship ISBE Conference (2016) BEST PAPER AWARDS WINNER - Entrepreneurial Practitioner Learning Track, “‘Scripting entrepreneurial life: exploring enablers for action through entrepreneurial narrative and dialogue’.
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship ISBE Conference (2022) BEST PAPER AWARDS WINNER – Entrepreneurship Education, “Learning through Scribbles…………………collaborative auto ethnographic approach to teaching”.
RENT Conference 2022 – Best Conference Reviewer Award *

Entrepreneurship & Small Business (Learning & Education)

David’s teaching and research interests are in the field of Entrepreneurial education and learning through action. His research activity is focused towards exploring practice-based, processual as well as dialogic approaches to entrepreneurship education and learning, reflexive learning, and practical wisdom. His current research explores the role of dialogism in entrepreneurship teaching practice. He embraces a self-critical reflexive position, to explore the practice of dialogism as a form of pedagogical inquiry, utilising various art based methods such as action research and auto ethnographic approaches to how we educate entrepreneurial practitioners/students. He adopts a relational social constructionist perspective, to draw discussion towards how our understanding of “learning in action” is continually mediated and re-developed based upon our dialogical interactions with students and self.

David is actively involved in the ISBE community acting as track chair for the “Research Methods, Practice and Inquiry/Impact Track”, and serving as guest editor for scholarly journals. David holds a position on the British Academy of Management Research Methods Special Interest Group steering community, where he has planned, developed and hosted a number of professional development workshops for students and practitioners at DBA and PhD levels of study.

Research Funding
1. ESRC Research training bursary award - 2012
2. ESRC Research training bursary award - 2010
3. ESRC Research training bursary award - 2008