'Women as Early Career Academics in Business Schools: a First Look at UK-Wide Study' Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation Research Seminar

Dr Collis' research centres around the concept of supporting individual differences at work to facilitate positive work and employee outcomes, exploring a range of topics including personality dynamics and understanding how personality interacts with, and is shaped by, work experiences or environments. She is also researching the effects of newer ways of working, such as hybrid working and activity-based offices, on employee work and wellbeing outcomes.

Her work is multidisciplinary, touching on a range of different theoretical and disciplinary foundations. However, it is underpinned by a psychological grounding, placing emphasis on individual experiences. Her publications include a range of prestigious journals, as well as a book chapter and a number of practical white paper outputs. She has received external funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme.

Before joining Henley Business School, Dr Collis worked at Exeter Business School as a Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and Leadership and prior to this at Leeds University Business School as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow on the Economic and Social Research Council Funded Project: Adapting Offices for the Future of Work. She holds a PhD from the University of Surrey, where her thesis explored personality dynamics at work.

The topic of this presentation is 'Women as Early Career Academics in Business Schools: a First Look at UK-Wide Study'. Given that she is a fairly new member of staff within Henley Business School, Dr Collis will begin the session with an overview of her research experiences, interests and future agenda, inviting colleagues to connect to discuss further.

The seminar will then present a high-level look at some of the key findings from a UK-wide study on women as early-career academics (ECAs) within Business and Management Schools, funded by BA/Leverhulme, prior to the launch of the full project report later this year. Specifically, the session will discuss some of the context for the work before summarising the key themes around why some women are thriving in academia, why some are struggling and additional gendered experiences. The seminar will wrap up by discussing the support this population calls for, aimed at ECAs themselves, as well as colleagues, line managers and senior leaders within these institutions.

After the seminar has concluded, Dr Collis will lead an expert session workshop, titled 'Early Career Journey at Henley Business School: a Roundtable on Starting, Adapting and Belonging'. This workshop will be a roundtable discussion, which will provide space and time to discuss and reflect upon the findings within Henley Business School as a context. Dr Collis will facilitate group conversations on the resources and support in place and what may be beneficial to introduce alongside this to support the development of all early-career academics within our institution. This is especially relevant for early career researchers and PhD students, who are encouraged to attend.

The seminar is for an internal audience and will be held on 16 November 2026, 1:00pm, in room LG01 of the Henley Business School building, Whiteknights campus. For those unable to attend in person there is also the option to dial in remotely via Microsoft Teams. If you are interested in joining, please contact Alex Baker on a.j.baker@henley.ac.uk

LOBR research seminars are co-ordinated by Professor Bernd Vogel and Dr Anastasiya Saraeva.