Kerrie Howard

I joined Royal Holloway, University of London in October 2021. I’m involved in the delivery of undergraduate to postgraduate teaching, as well as dissertation supervision, on a wide range of subjects (including, human resources management; responsible business; consulting; international HRM).

I hold a PhD and an MBA from the University of Bath. Prior to becoming an academic I worked as an independent consultant with non-profit organizations and businesses to strengthen their social agendas, organizational strategy and organizational development. Working mostly at international level my clients have included UN Women, the United Nations Capital Fund and the United Nations Population Fund.  Prior to consulting I worked as a global program director in the international non-profit sector overseeing complex research projects and cross-sector collaborations with diverse multi-sector groups in the human rights and humanitarian sector, often in hostile environments and crisis contexts. I’ve worked with a wide range of sectors including United Nations agencies, international NGOs, businesses, academia, governments, charities, community organizations, religious groups and professional bodies in the judicial and health sectors.

The combination of my research interests and wide ranging work experience have led me to a particular interest in what and how organizations contribute to society, a focus I explored in my PhD research by investigating what middle managers do with corporate social responsibility.

Currently I lead a research project on the redeployment of civil servants in the public sector during the pandemic. The aim of this project is to understand how individuals reconfigured their know-how to meet the challenge of new work contexts.

PhD supervision

I welcome supervision of students in the broad area of organisational studies including: middle managers; consultancy; strategy-as-practice; identities; corporate social responsibility; ethics; knowledge management; practice and process studies; and discourse studies.