Research in Leadership Studies

Our broad-based research themes and areas of expertise include supervising research based in the UK, Europe, Africa and south east Asia:

• Traditional paradigms of leadership, including traits, behaviour and contingency approaches
• Leadership during and following a crisis
• Transactional leadership
• Entrepreneurial leadership
• Sustainable leadership
• Cross-cultural studies of leadership
• Leadership and decision-making
• Strategic leadership
• Leadership skills and development
• Women and leadership
• Leading with vision
• Leaders as agents for change
• Leadership and business sustainability
• The role of leaders in reinforcing social inequalities
• Attributional perspective on leadership
• Ethics and leadership
• Authentic leadership
• Servant leadership
• Psychodynamic approach to leadership
• Charisma and leadership
• Transformational leadership in organisations
• Distributed, shared or team leadership in organisations
• Leadership in education
• Leadership in public sector and services
• The dark side of leadership
• Leading change
• Emerging leadership theories
• Leadership research methodologies and methods

Areas of expertise: 

• Employer Value Propositions (EVPs)
• Employee Engagement and Organisation Culture
• Digital Transformations in Talent Management
• Social Care and caring
• Fair and Decent work
• Achieving equality and diversity
• Talent Management in China
• Organisational development

We welcome applications from anyone whose research ambitions links, however broadly, with these areas, and members of the Unit are happy to discuss the possibility of developing studentship and funding applications.

We can confidently state that our activities directly map to 5 UN SDGs:

SDG 3 - Good Health & Wellbeing; SDG 5 - Gender Equality; SDG 8 - Decent Work & Economic Growth; SDG 9 - Industry Innovation & Infrastructure; SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities.

UWS aims to be among the global leaders of excellent, relevant and purposeful research aligned with the United Nations SDGs by placing them at the heart of our Strategy 2025.

In the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024, UWS was officially recognised in the top 400 universities worldwide as assessed against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UWS was recognised as the 2nd most impactful university in Scotland, and 16th globally, for 'reducing inequalities' (UN SDG 10).

Find out more about UWS and UN SDGs

The Social Impact Leadership and Management (SILM) group engages in research aimed at enabling change and addressing major challenges across wellbeing, empowerment and equality.

Our activities include theorising and advancing new forms of ethical leadership and management development; developing new systems and models of social care; progressing equality and diversity; changing organisation cultures.

Find out more about SILM, including active research themes, by using the link below:

SOCIAL IMPACT LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

The minimum requirements for an applicant for registration for the degree of MRes or MPhil or for the degree of MRes/MPhil with the intention of transfer to PhD shall be a first or second class honours degree of a university in the United Kingdom, or of an equivalent qualification.

Applicants holding qualifications other than those specified in (above) shall be considered on their merits and in relation to the nature and scope of the programme of work proposed.

Direct registration for the degree of PhD may also be approved, at the discretion of the University if the applicant holds an MRes/MPhil degree of a United Kingdom University, or an MRes/MPhil degree of equivalent standard of a non-UK University, provided that the MRes/MPhil degree is in a subject area which is appropriate to the proposed programme of work.

Exceptionally, direct registration for the degree of PhD may also be approved, at the discretion of the University, even if the applicant is not the holder of an MRes/MPhil degree, but does hold an exceptionally high-quality honours degree or taught master’s degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline, AND has appropriate research experience at postgraduate level which has resulted in significant peer-reviewed publications, and where verifiable evidence of accomplishment is supplied.

For applicants whose first language is not English, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level. The qualifications below must have been gained within two years of the start of your course.

General English language requirements at UWS: International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training)

For our research degrees (MRes, MPhil, PhD, DBA, DProf), applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:

• Overall score of 6.5
• No sub-test less than 6.0

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS