7th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies

Biographies
Dr Peter Sharp Peter Sharp is a doctor in Knowledge Management (KM) and information systems (IS) development strategy, and manages the postgraduate Research, Dissertation and Business Skills Programmes at Regent’s Business School London. He is a Senior Lecturer and MA Programme Manager who is experienced in a full range of activities including development, validation and implementation of MA programmes. He is also a PhD supervisor and is currently working in Regent’s College Senate developing its research strategy. His current research interests are in the field of how to create effective knowledge centres in organisations and how action research can address organisational problems. Peter has an established record of international publications, has given presentations across the world and chaired streams at many conferences He is currently very active in his role as chair of the European Conference of Research Methodology in Business and Management Studies 2008 (ECRM 2008) and is on the editorial board of the Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management (EJKM). He is also a visiting lecturer and advisor to universities. He is a member of a range of relevant professional groups related to his roles and areas of interest. These include the City Information Group, UK Academy of Information Systems (UKAIS), the Law Society, and the British Academy of Management. He is also a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He pioneered a new KM method for organisations called MaKE [tm] which has been applied in a wide range of organisations at a strategic level. He advises different public and private sector organisations on a range of research, training and KM issues. Peter also enjoys a range of other activities including football, badminton, drawing and charity work.	Peter Sharp
Dr. Ann Brown Ann is a Senior Lecturer in Information Management in the Faculty of Management at Cass Business School. She took an MSc (Operational Research) at LSE while working at the British Steel Corporation as an Operational Researcher. She obtained her doctorate from City University in 2005, based on her work into the problems and potential of Information Systems applications to create Business Value for organisations. She supports a number of IS academic conferences through her work as a member of conference committees. She is on the editorial panel for Information and Management.	Ann Brown
Dr Jill Collis Jill Collis holds a BA (Honours) in Business Administration and a PhD in financial reporting by small, private companies. She specialises in teaching accounting to non-specialist students as well as research methods and has published a number of textbooks on both subjects. These include ‘Business Accounting’ and ‘Business Research’, which are the product of a transatlantic collaboration with Roger Hussey from the University of Windsor, Canada. Jill’s teaching and writing, and her supervision of research students, reflect her experience as a mature student, which has given her considerable insight into the needs of both parties in the relationship. Her research focuses on the financial reporting needs of small and medium-sized unlisted companies and the impact of changes in the regulatory framework. Not surprisingly, her publications include studies for the accountancy profession: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; The Professional Oversight Board of the Financial Reporting Council and the government: The Department of Trade and Industry; and most recently, the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Some of the research instruments developed for these studies have been used by the regulators in Denmark, Malaysia and Japan. Jill regularly presents papers at the European Accounting Association’s conferences. In 2007, her paper on the contribution of the UK and Denmark to the harmonisation of audit exemption was awarded a bursary from Ernst & Young to attend the International Accounting Section Conference of the American Accounting Association in Charleston, South Carolina. However, this was just a one-off. Jill’s more regular contribution to international community is as a member of the working party set up by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group and the Federation of European Accountants, which meets in Brussels. Their task is to respond to the latest proposals relating to the International Accounting Standard for unlisted companies and the simplification of accounting and auditing regulation for smaller entities in EU company law.	Jill Collis
Gisela Schulte Agyeman Gisela has been working with Kingston upon Hull, City Psychological Service since 2002. Her work involves consulting and advising on special educational needs of children (aged 0-19 years) in the city. She also teaches p/t for the University of Hull, Centre for Lifelong Learning and has been with them for 19 years. Subjects taught in this time include Human Development, Organisational Psychology, Research Methods and Mental Health as well as dissertation supervision. Gisela was a full time member at the University of Lincoln for 11 years, teaching German and then switching to teach Psychology in the Department of Applied Social Sciences and Social Work. Before joining the University of Lincoln, she taught in Further, Higher and Adult Education. Prior to this she worked in Social Services, Adult mental health care in the community. She is particularly interested in areas of research which involve representing the 'under-represented', having researched black and ethnic minority pupils' views and the voices of students with disabilities in HE, previously.
Dr George Allan George Allan obtained his BSc (Reading University UK 1967), MSc in IT (MOD 1980) and PhD in Information Systems (Portsmouth University 2003). During his career as IT Project Manager for several large companies in UK he realised that all problems stem from how people handle situations. His interests and techniques shifted from statistical analysis to finding more appropriate ways to investigate and solve socio-technical problems. Dr Allan learned the Grounded Theory methodology from its originator, Dr Barney Glaser by attending a series of European seminars. George now applies Grounded Theory to IT project management situations and has a growing portfolio of publications in both ITPM and GT as a research method. Dr Allan also helps PhD students across the world with their understanding of GT in other discipline areas.	George Allan
Dr David Douglas Dr David Douglas is a member of Staffordshire University Business School where he holds various appointments within the University and the Business School’s postgraduate activities. His particular areas of research interest situate within four related fields: 1. Research Methodology - interests in post-positivist and post-modernist approaches, critical and interpretive methodologies with particular interests in grounded theory, case study, and repertory grid analysis. 2. Decision Theory - particular interests in entrepreneurs’ cognitive decision framing, management decision-making, naturalistic decision theory and human decision processes. 3. Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management - particular interests in actors’ interfaces and behaviours. 4. David also has a professional-pedagogical interest in research supervision. David has published a number of ECRM and EJBRM papers.	David Douglas
Professor Christopher May Christopher May is Professor of Political Economy and Head of Department, Politics and International Relations at Lancaster University in the UK. He is series co-editor (with Nicola Phillips) of the International Political Economy Yearbook, and recently edited volume 15, Global Corporate Power. He has published widely on intellectual property rights and the information society. His work has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Swedish and Ukrainian. Before becoming an academic he worked in the music industry, as a bookseller and for the political pressure group Charter 88. He is currently working with the National Consumer Council to expand their coverage of intellectual property issues, and has recently completed the first independent book length study of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. You can see a current list of publications here.	Christopher May
Dr Martin Rich Martin Rich initially worked in the information systems sector as a consultant and project manager, before joining Cass Business School as a lecturer. During his career at Cass he has taken responsibility for a series of innovative applications of technology to management learning, all of them underpinned by a thorough research foundation. His interests centre around applying the scholarship of teaching and learning to management education.	Martin Rich
Dr. Kristina Risom Dr. Kristina Risom Jespersen received her PhD degree from Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University on the topic ‘Information and New Product Development Decision-making’ where she designed and applied a virtual simulation of the new product development process as the data collection platform. Kristina is currently working as Assistant Professor at the Department of Marketing and Statistics where she is responsible for courses in philosophy of science and business research methods (quantitative, qualitative and data analysis). Simulation is still the applied method of her published research in various recognized journals and books.	Kristina Risom
Dr Ibrahim Sirkeci Dr Ibrahim Sirkeci is Senior Lecturer at European Business School London since 2005. He has been teaching Research Methods, Marketing, and Marketing Research in the UK and Turkey for five years. He worked as a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Bristol and as Assistant Professor in Management in Ankara, Turkey. He earned his PhD (2003) in Human Geography at the University of Sheffield following a BA (1997) in Public Administration and Political Science at Bilkent University. He also studied Economic and Social Demography at Hacettepe University. He is author of several books and published more than 30 book chapters, journal articles, and reviews in outlets by international scholarly publishers including ABC-Clio, Blackwell, Lexington, and Edwin Mellen Press. He is also founder and managing editor of Migration Letters journal. His expertise lies in population movements, ethnicity, conflict, transnationalism, and segmentation. Employing multi-method techniques he has conducted research in the UK, Germany, Turkey and Iraq. Most recently, as part of a distinguished team, he has analyzed the UK Census data regarding ethnic segregation and labour market outcomes.	Ibrahim Sirkeci
Dr Branka Krivokapic-Skoko Dr Branka Krivokapic-Skoko is a Senior Lecturer in Economics and Management at the School of Marketing and Management, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia. She obtained her doctorate from Lincoln University, New Zealand based on her research on ethnic entrepreneurship. During last few years her research activities have focused on ethnic business communities, new forms of agricultural co-operation, and ethnic diversity in rural and regional Australia. She also did research on psychological contracts in the context of theory and practice of management. She published in the area of mixed methodology, and the Boolean based comparative method. She is currently a Chief Investigator on two large projects funded by Australia Research Council and Rural Industry & Rural Development Corporation on ethnic communities and the built environment in Australian cities, and new immigrants in the regional and rural Australia.	Branka Krivokapic-Skoko
Justyn Trenner Justyn obtained his MA from Queen's College Oxford. After starting the business as head of Global Research at Euromoney Publications PLC, he led the MBO that established ClientKnowledge as a wholly independent firm. He has extensive experience working with wholesale financial institutions around the world and has created original business concepts and working models for customers. Justyn Trenner is a full member of the Market Research Society of the UK.