Samantha joined the HRM&OS department in October 2021. Prior to Royal Holloway, she was a Research Fellow at UCL, Research Associate at Exeter University, and an Associate Lecturer at both Birkbeck, University of London and the Open University. Before this she worked for many years as a senior manager in the public and cultural sectors. Sam is a critical psychologist, and her work focusses on workplace inequality, career development, occupational cultures, and the construction of knowledge with a particular interest in discourse, narrative, visual and historical analysis. She has researched these issues within UK museum work, theatre directing, academia and the NHS.

Sam’s PhD entitled “Struggles for distinction: class and classed inequality in UK museum work” was awarded in November 2020 and won the Best Thesis prize in the School of Business, Economics and Informatics at Birkbeck. She is currently working on a funding proposal with her PhD examiners to examine how discourses of ‘career’, ‘upward mobility’ and ‘levelling up’ shape the experiences and meaning-making of people in what are often classed “low status” roles. She is keen to challenge taken-for-granted ways of valuing skills, jobs and knowledge.

Sam teaches on the Individual at Work, Organisation Studies module and is developing a new module, Career Management in a Changing World. She is committed to providing students with the confidence, critical thinking skills, and enthusiasm to develop their future and make positive contributions to society.

She is interested in supervising PhD students with an interest in:

• Workplace inequalities
• The creative and cultural sectors
• Career development
• Well-being at work
• Meaningful work