Leadership, Education and Development (LEAD) Research Group

Enhancing local, national and international connections to co-create and capture the impact of leadership, education and development interventions within organisation contexts.

Our mission is to create, develop and inform leading–edge theories and practices by engaging in co-operative research initiatives and consultancy interventions. We seek to promote wide discussion and debate about leadership, education and development from a range of perspectives: individual, group and organisational.

Our expertise

We are a group of highly skilled and experienced staff with a broad range of knowledge, who not only have an established academic reputation but are also closely linked to industry and professional bodies. We are an inclusive group and benefit from the contribution of our: early career researchers, doctoral students, visiting research fellows and alumni.

We have a range of interests taking place within the following key areas:  

• Human resource development and leadership
• Leadership development
• Fair work
• Professional practice and education

Find out more about our areas of expertise, including our publications and research grants, by following the links below:

PGR

• Matar Al Mansoori  - "Applied Systems for Operational Research in Business Development"
• Amber Reilly - "A study of Student Engagement, Retention and the challenges faced for Undergraduates in the North West - UK Higher Education Sector" 
• Jack OFarrell  - "The Dynamics Between Policy Creation and Policy Operationalization in Universities" 
• Catherine Bonser -  "Higher level apprenticeships in higher education: bridging the divide between education and work-based learning"
• Juliane Rakers -  "Personal traits hindering women in leadership roles"
• Ahmed Al Nuaimi -  "Understanding the Strategic Use of Emotional Intelligence in Corporate Settings: Focusing on the Key Characteristics in the UAE"
• Saif Al Mansoori  - "The Impact of Leadership Development Programs on Succession Planning and Organisational development"
• Ruth Slater -  "A critical evaluation of workforce behaviours and attitudes towards international employees working within UK healthcare to improve current practice around cultural safety in diverse teams."
• Afra Alrashdi -  "A Comparative Study on the Achievement of Happiness Policy Implementation within Abu Dhabi Global Market and The Knowledge and Human Development Authority"
• Mariam Alhendi  - "A Study of Creativity and Innovation in Abu Dhabi National Oil and Gas Company"

Other full members

• Julie Bennett
• Jason Boulter
• Meriel Box
• Alison Hardy
• Patricia Harrison
• Michael Monaghan

Visiting professors/research fellows

Rick Holden

John Edmonstone is Director of MTDS, a leadership, management and organisation development consultancy with extensive experience within the public sector across the UK and internationally. He has undertaken successful work in the human resource management and organisation development fields in healthcare, local government and higher and further education, in such areas as clinical leadership, systems leadership, action learning, coaching and mentoring and evaluation. Author of nine books and over one hundred journal articles, he is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Action Learning: Research and Practice, Leadership in Health Services and the International Journal of Healthcare.

Mike Pedler is Emeritus Professor at Henley Business School, University of Reading. He is founding editor of the journal: Action Learning: Research and Practice and co-founder of the Centre for Action Learning Facilitation. He works and writes on action learning, self-development, leadership development and the learning organisation.

Dr Michael Walton, PhD is a chartered psychologist and his main interests, writing and work have focused on executive behaviour-in-context and in particular on examining the origins of toxic and counter-productive behaviour in the workplace.

As a management consultant and executive coach & counsellor he has worked primarily with directors and senior executives on organisational and personal change in the UK and abroad. For many years Michael was registered as an adult integrative psychotherapist and was able to integrate, with care, insights from psychotherapy into his consulting work.

He has authored three books focusing on leadership and management one of which has been translated into German. In addition to several book chapters he has co-edited a book on counselling in organisations and was the editor for a special issue of the journal ‘Organisations & People’ on toxic leadership. He continues to be intrigued by, and to write about, such matters.

Michael was the Director of People in Organisations Ltd and has held academic appointments in the Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter; the Centre for Counselling Psychology, City University, London; School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Regent’s University, London; within the Defence Studies Department of King's College, University of London; within the Hult-Ashridge Business School and within the School of Management at the University of Bradford. Currently he is an invited Visiting Professor in the Department of Managerial Psychology and Sociology, Prague University of Economics and Business and a Visiting Senior Lecturer, Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University in Bangkok.

Kathryn Winterburn is founder and director of Winterburn Works Ltd., an organisation and leadership development consultancy based in Leeds. She is an advocate of experiential learning and reflexive practice and has successfully established communities of practice and learning networks that provide places of learning, inquiry, peer support, reflection and supervision. Kathryn is a member of a number of professional bodies including: the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, ODN Europe and EMCC. She is also a co-associate editor of the international Journal of Action Learning Research and Practice.

Our internal connections

We have established links to other areas of the University involved in leadership, education and development research:

• Centre for Educational Research 
• Teaching and Learning Academy
• Innovations In Practice, journal

We also have established links to our external communities; co-creating and capturing the impact of leadership, education and development interventions within a business context. 

• British Academy of Management: Management Knowledge and Education (MKE) Initiative
• Action Learning: Research and Practice journal

Monthly research forums

We organise regular LEAD research forums creating a ‘safe’ space for dialogue, learning and fun. The forums are usually held on the last Wednesday of each month from 12.00pm – 2.00pm. They are open to all LEAD members and others who would welcome contributing to our research community.

To receive invitations to our forums please join our mailing by contacting Bernie Hobbs.

PhD Candidates

• Jason Bogh - "Good game, well played: Exploring the lived experiences of esports players in their careers"
• Wen Li - "Perceptions of effective leadership development in a Chinese hotel"
• Bo Wen - "Identifying Employees' motivation of Knowledge sharing in the context of Chinese SMEs"
• Maryam Kawsar - "To what extent is Performance Management enabling a better educational experience in the Pakistani secondary school sector?"
• Ben George - "Ethnic Minority Immigrants and their British Descendants in the UK labour Market.  An Investigation of Black African and Black Caribbean Current Employment Status in the UK"
• Omar AlKetbi - "The Impact of Leadership on Employees Knowledge sharing in the General Secretariat of the Executive Council"
• Ibrahim Alkhoori - "Change Management and Technology to Drive Organisational Performance: A Study of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)"
• Khuluod Alhaddad - "Leadership and change in developing employability skills: A study of undergraduate schools as a learning environment in the UAE"

DBA Candidates

• Jack OFarrell  - "The Dynamics Between Policy Creation and Policy Operationalization in Universities"
• Catherine Bonser - "Higher level apprenticeships in higher education: bridging the divide between education and work-based learning"
• Juliane Rakers - "Personal traits hindering women in leadership roles"
• Afra Alrashdi - "A Comparative Study on the Achievement of Happiness Policy Implementation within Abu Dhabi Global Market and The Knowledge and Human Development Authority"
• Mariam Alhendi - "A Study of Creativity and Innovation in Abu Dhabi National Oil and Gas Company"
• Ahmed Al Nuaimi - "Understanding the Strategic Use of Emotional Intelligence in Corporate Settings: Focusing on the Key Characteristics in the UAE"
• Saif Al Mansoori - "The Impact of Leadership Development Programs on Succession Planning and Organisational development"
• Matar Al Mansoori - "Applied Systems for Operational Research in Business Development"

Contact us

If you have any enquiries related to doctoral applications, research collaborations, consultancy projects or any related activities please contact Professor Jim Stewart or Dr Aileen Lawless.