Maureen AYIKORU received her Ph.D from the School of Management, University of Surrey and is currently an Associate Professor in Sustainability and Business Ethics at the School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway, University of London. She is a member of the editorial board of the Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE) journal.

Research Interests

Maureen's research which is interdisciplinary in nature, aims to explore the role of sustainability in socio-economic development and responsible business and organisational management. She is interested in social innovation and the role of institutions in addressing gender, poverty, health, education, climate change and other forms of structural inequalities with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. She has a specialist interest in tourism in developing countries, mainly in Uganda and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. She is very keen to contribute to academic and policy debates that focus on inclusiveness whilst addressing grand challenges facing society.

Funded Research (External & Internal)

Maureen was the Co-Lead (Co-PI) on the Project ‘Fostering digital learning environment for adolescent reproductive health education’ supported by funding from Grand Challenges Canada to Makerere University Business School. Round 11, October 2021, value $81,178 (CAD) duration June 2022-July 2023. https://www.grandchallenges.ca/programs/stars-in-global-health/>.

In the summer of 2021, Maureen led a collaborative team of researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, Makerere University Business School and Makerere Lung Institute, on a research project aimed at investigating the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on healthcare professionals in Uganda.

Successful Doctoral Supervision 

Maureen has supervised three doctoral researchers in the following areas:

• Ecotourism as a sustainable development mechanism among Indigenous communities of Mexico (2012-2016)  
• Accounting for institutional changes in Ghana’s gold mining industry – Pre-colonial to the post-structural adjustment programme eras (2016-2020)
• Institutional field-level change in global health: logic evolution in health initiatives (2014 - 2021).

Ongoing Doctoral Supervision

• Sustainability and food insecurity in a UK context (2023 -)
• COVID-19 vaccination acceptability and hesitancy in Sierra Leone (2024 -)
• Digital sustainability in a Brazilian context (2025 - )

She welcomes prospective PhD applications addressing one or more of her key areas of interest.

Teaching

Maureen teaches on Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes, specifically on the following modules:

• Foundations for Sustainable Business (Undergraduate, Level 4)
• Business Ethics (Undergraduate, Level 5)
• Strategy and Ethics in International Business Management (Postgraduate, Level 7)
• Dissertation and independent project supervision at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels.