I am part of the HRM and Law group within the Edinburgh Business School, School of Social Sciences, at Heriot-Watt University (also see @HrmHwu), as well as a member of the Centre for Employment, Work and the Professions (CREWs).

I am a long-term Academic Member of the CIPD, a Fellow of the HE Academy, and member of BSA and BUIRA.

I am currently a Co-Investigator on the EPSCR funded Disability Inclusive Science Careers (DISC) project.

I am also involved in current research projects looking at Leaveism (@Leavism) (nothing to do with Brexit!) - a paper from this research project is planned for the ILPC in Greenwich (online) 12-14 April 2021 (click here for paper and presentation recording).

A further current research project involves trade union organising responses to the balloting thresholds of the Trade Union Act 2016 - an impact case based on disseminating "get the vote out" (GTVO) practices is being developed for post-REF2021. A summary article can be accessed here and a second paper on such matters is to be presented at BUIRA 2021 in July.

My most recent publications involve relating job quality in gig work to Fair Work, and, an attempt to re-conceptualise sustainable HRM to make central employee interests and the many stakeholders in the employment relationship, to such practice.

I have recently completed a research project on in-work poverty leading to publications in in-work poverty and disability and in-work poverty and human resource management philosophy and practice.

I have also recently completed a research project with the TSSA trade union, aimed at providing training recommendations for line managing neurodiverse employees in the UK transport and travel industry.

I have recently finalised an impact case for REF2021 based on how our research has led to greater awarness of neurodiversity in the UK transport and travel industry and helped the TSSA build bargaining capacity related to neurodiversity. Further, the research has also led to wider impact specifically in the educational sector and police work.

Publication to come from the TSSA project include articles on trade unions as facilitators for disabled employees, masculinities and disability and the role of emotional labour in the management of neurodivergent employees.

Previous research has looked at employee use of the Internet/social media. For example, I have had research published on how Generation Y employees regulate their social media settings to avoid employer surveillance, how Facebook can be used to help employees cope with anti-trade union employers, cynicism expressed via social media can give employees a sense of empowerment.

As of March 2021 I have two new publications under review:  GTVO and the Trade Union Act 2016 (R&R decision), and, strategic HRM in Nigeria.

I currently supervise seven PhD students on the following topics: marketing of disability services to employees and employers, socially irresponsible HRM in the betting shop industry, disability and academic careers, history and emergence of HRM, disability in professional working, and autism and employment (2 students).

I have supervised PhD students to completion on the following topics: job quality and gig work, LGBTQ+ and academic work, work values in the third-sector, intersectionality and experiences of work for women Polish migrants, bi-polar disorder and the workplace, lived experiences of Nigerian line managers under strategic HRM, meaning of work in Sri Lanka, the labour process in the music industry, and, human resource management in the Chinese oil industry.

At present I would be interested in supervising PhD students in the area of in-work poverty, leaveism, trade union organising, sustainable working lives, socially responsible/sustainable HRM, social media and employee resistance/misbehaviour, and disability issues in the workplace.

I am a member of the Editorial Board for Work, Employment and Society (2019-) and External Examiner at the University Stirling on the MSc in HRM (2020-).

I am also an adhoc reviewier for the following journals: Culture and Organization; Cyberpsychology; Economic and Industrial Democracy; Employee Relations; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Human Relations; International Human Resource Management Journal; International Journal of Human Resources; Development and Management; International Perspective of Equality and Diversity; Journal of Human Resources Costing and Accounting; Journal of Management and Orgaization; Journal of Managerial Psychology; Journal of Marketing Management; Journal of Organisational Ethnography; International Journal of Retail Distribution Management; New Technology, Work and Employment; Personnel Review. 

I also hold the following roles at Heriot-Watt University: Chair of Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee and member of the Combined Joint Negotiation and Consultation committee.

In the past 5 years I have Chaired the University Research Ethics Committees (3 years), been a member of Senate (5 years), a staff representative on Court (1 year).

I am Vice-President of the HWUCU and been awarded prizes for organising from UCU Scotland and the STUC in 2019.