Into the Brexit Bear Pit: Blogging, Tweeting, Slogging, Weeping, Engaging, Enraging, Changing

Seminar abstract

This presentation is a reflection on Professor Chris Grey's experiences of public engagement in the debates about Brexit.

Starting from some thoughts about what Brexit might mean, for Critical Management Studies especially (Grey, 2018). The presentation will consider what those thoughts led him to in terms of entering a very highly-charged political debate.

Specifically, reflecting on difficulties, dilemmas, challenges and occasional pleasures of creating and developing a very extensive, and arguably quite influential presence as a soical and traditional media Brexit commentator.

These have both been practical (e.g. providing immediate commentaries to tight deadlines; entering new networks) and emotional (e.g. dealing with abuse; the pleasure of immediacy), and have also led to the thinking differently about academic work, writing and what it means to be a social scientist. 

At the same time, Chris's work in this area can be considered in the narrower terms of what public engagement REF impact case study might involve.

Reference:

Grey. C (2018), "Does Brexit mean the end of CMS in Britain?" Organisation, 25 (5): 662-670

Booking

This is a free event. All are welcome to attend. Please feel free to bring your colleagues, classmates and friends along.

Speaker bio

Before joining the School of Management at the Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), Professor Christopher Grey was a Professor of Organisational Theory at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Wolfson College.

In 2007, Chris moved to Warwick University where he was the Head of Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour group. In 2010 to 2012 he held a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.

Chris joined RHUL in October 2012.

He has also held several visiting appointments including Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge, Velux Foundation Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and Professeur-invité and Chercheur-associé at Université Paris-Dauphine (DRM) in France. In 2005 He was also made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).

He has also been a member of the editorial board of

• Journal of Management Studies
• British Journal of Management 

Professor Grey has a broad set of research interests within organisation studies, with a focus on sociological and historical analysis.

He has published in a variety of academic journals on topics ranging from the professional socialisation of accountants to the regulation of smoking at work. His published work also includes the organisational significance of C.P. Snow's novel to the critical analysis of management education.

More recently, Professor Chris Grey has researched the organisation of code-breaking at Bletchley Park during World War Two, giving rise to the book Decoding Organisation. Bletchley Park, Code-Breaking and Organisation Studies, published by Cambridge University Press in 2012.

He has an extensive involvement in public engagement activities communicating the effects of Brexit on business and international trade.