Our expert staff
At Essex Business School, you benefit from world-class supervision and research training conducted by our senior academic staff such as Professor Matthew Allen. Matthew is Professor of International Business and Strategy, and Head of the Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group within Essex Business School. Widely published, his research compares and analyses business and employment systems and their effects on innovation, technology and work designs.
As a leading management science and entrepreneurship specialist, Matthew is one of two EBS academics helping fulfilment and distribution specialists The Finishing Line develop an e-commerce strategy to drive growth and maximise efficiency as part of a prestigious new Management Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). Financed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Management KTPs are a flagship programme for collaboration, connecting businesses and social enterprises across the UK with expertise and research in Universities and linking them up with ambitious graduate talent. Essex is proud to be Top Two in the UK for number of KTP’s.
As the Head of the Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group, Matthew is the line manager for over 20 colleagues and is responsible for providing leadership, oversight, mentoring and monitoring of all academic staff in the Group in the delivery of excellence in education and research. He reports to the Dean. As a member of the EBS Senior Management Team, he contributes to the overall strategic and operational delivery of School activities ensuring effective leadership of the School as a whole.
Our department boasts eight research centres across our two campuses. Professor of Management and Director of Postgraduate Research at Essex Business School Martyna Sliwa, oversees and leads on the provision of our graduate research programmes and ensures that we create an environment where our doctoral students can flourish as researchers in a thriving and mutually supportive PhD community. Martyna talks more about her role, why Essex Business School is unique and offers advice to prospective PhD students here.
You work with two supervisors during your studies. They provide guidance and support to help you achieve your individual research goals, develop your research topic and create a personalised training plan. You meet with your supervisors at least once a month and are usually required to submit work before for feedback. Twice a year, you have a supervisory board meeting to discuss your progress and agree your plans for the next six months.
As well as supporting you to complete your thesis, your supervisors can help you to plan your career development. Our academics often co-author publications with doctoral students and can help you to develop the transferable skills needed for the jobs market.
Take a look at our staff pages pages to find out more about our areas of supervision.