Business Management - Doing diversity: A study of equity, diversity, and inclusion experts in UK higher education

Supervisor: Dr Tomi Koljone

Bio: I work as a Lecturer in Organisation Theory at the University of Liverpool in the Work, Organisation and Management group. My research focuses on organizations, occupations, and work. In particular, I am interested in how technology shapes and is shaped by occupational work, the mechanisms and lived experiences of organizational inequality, and qualitative research methods. I undertook my doctoral studies in Organization and Management at Aalto University and received a Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship for which I visited Boston College in 2020. Before my academic career, I worked in public relations and completed BSc and MSc degrees at Aalto University.

Email: koljonen@liverpool.ac.uk

School: Management

Department: Business Management

Module code: ULMS201

Suitable for students of: Management, education, sociology, psychology, and anthropology.  

Desired experience or requirements: No prior experience is needed, however, some familiarity and enthusiasm regarding qualitative research methods and interviewing may be useful. Interest in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is also a plus.  

Places available: 2

Start dates: 10 June 2024, 1 July 2024

Virtual option: Yes - virtual, hybrid and in-person options

Project length: 8 - 12 weeks 

Project description:

Society increasingly expects organizations to tackle issues related to EDI. Unfortunately, research shows that such efforts are both inconsistently adopted by organizations and— even when implemented—fail to reach their goals. However, organizations now seek to better address EDI issues with the help of an emerging occupational group, EDI experts. This research aims to understand how these experts choose the EDI initiatives they advance, how they get support for those initiatives, and how they legitimate their standing as experts on EDI issues. To answer these questions, this project examines the work of EDI experts in UK higher education via a semi-structured interview study.

Additional Requirements: N/A