Prof. Joe O'Mahoney

Like to do things differently? Me too! I'm excited to be involved in the 'Half Baked Ideas' Workshop at the Critical Management Studies Conference again in June 2025. Designed to foster open discussions and provide feedback on emerging projects, , papers, and other research-related activities. These sessions aim to cultivate a caring, supportive CMS community—a space where participants, from early-career researchers to seasoned professors (and practitioners too!), can bring their ‘half-baked ideas’ and see them flourish through collaborative exchange. 🌱 Whether it’s: 📚 Exploring a specific question, 💡 Unpacking literature or theory, 🔍 Reflecting on methodologies, 🤝 Engaging in critical friendships, or 🧪 Experimenting with new thoughts— These sessions are all about free imagination, collegial support, and connection. Inspired by successful models from ICMS conferences (including a session at ICMS 2023 in Nottingham), we’re excited to continue this tradition. Call for submissions in the post below. Let’s create, regenerate, and inspire together! 🚀 #CriticalManagementStudies #ResearchCommunity #ProfessionalDevelopment #Collaboration

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“Opportunities for practical science are particularly important for less engaged students but only 26% of GCSE students are doing hands-on practical work at least fortnightly, down from 44% in 2016, and interest in science has declined - this is perhaps unsurprising given how much we know students like practical work.” Alarming new report by EngineeringUK; clearly not enough has been done in the past decade to overcome these barriers! And it begs this question how are we going to compete economically on the world stage with these worrying trends?

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I don’t usually write personal thoughts on LinkedIn – perhaps it reflects my vulnerability – However, today, after the Enabling SME event (https://lnkd.in/eX_RxbpM), a mixture of relief, disheartenment and reflection on what to learn and what’s next, I feel I need to spell out some personal feelings and thoughts to be able to sleep! Some might say today’s event wasn't a successful one – there could have been more people, more discussion and more suggestions. Yes, perhaps. Nonetheless, was it meaningful? I would say yes! I have been exploring the concept of ‘meaningfulness’ for my research on meaningful work – this notion can be associated with two occasions, namely, feeling authenticity and the value of action being shared widely (e.g., my action creates meaning not only to me but also to others). Having been feeling ‘authentic’ in this process? Yes! Throughout the process of developing scenario and organising this event aiming at contributing to co-creation of the scenario, I felt authentic interests, enthusiasm and efforts in learning and exploring 1) myself – the bias, pre-conception and assumptions that I have had but was not aware of; 2) the technology – the basic of it, what might be possible or not, what can be done or not, and thus, what might be desirable or not; and 3) experiences of disabled people – the challenges they are facing in their daily life, the future they are hoping and the reality that makes them being sceptical about the hope.  Was the value shared with others? Absolutely! Through this process, I’ve met people who just do kind things simply because they believe the value of what I am doing. Thank you Ingo Frommholz for having been my personal scientific advisor 😉. Julian Gwinnett Wolverhampton School of Creative Industries – you were basically another member of the team, appreciating this event even more than I did! Katy Deacon you value the hope side from our imagination of the possible by sharing this with your contacts even though we haven’t met in person yet - such trust and support of yours in our scenario have been an enormous encouragement for me to keep going...  So what's next? Our scenario building to contribute to InterAct scenario is still ongoing (the scenario and following questions can be found in the link below) and we Marisa Smith Nigel Caldwell Sebastian Pattinson John Oyekan, PhD, CEng, MIET, FHEA, FRSA will consider this experience as the first stepping stone for many more conversations and collaborations to come. Well, I might regret writing a very long honest personal post when I wake up tomorrow – but perhaps, sometimes being vulnerable is just ok… https://lnkd.in/gAJa2-_D

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In a breakout session organised by thinkingplace #Chesterfield #pizzazz24 on telling your place narrative using visual methods. A good example is Newhaven’s Look Again Supergraphics Festival https://lnkd.in/e4iWk9Q8 A few useful pointers for Institute of Place Management members: 1) Create a visual language to illustrate your place story - a set of graphics, fonts, colours, messages for people to use and share - co-create this (important!) 2) How does the place story affect environment/products/behaviour and communications e.g. train your taxi-drivers to tell stories when they pick up visitors from the airport or train station 3) Get stakeholders together who might tell your story - and provide tools for them to use 4) Think about multiple channels - story reels, bill boards, signage, events, underused sites and premises - target everyday spots used by regular and occasional visitors - not all litter bins and wayfinding need be municipal green or grey - use colour

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🎙 Bonus #TheEquityEdge podcast episode released! 🎙 In this second and final bonus episode of #TheEquityEdge we focus on #disability and #neurodiversity in #Engineering. Hosts Professor Sue Black OBE and Jo Stansfield, MBCS, FHCA are joined by Martin Griffin (CEng, FIMMM, CGeol, EurGeol, FGS, FIEDP), Geotechnical Engineer and award-winning EDI champion for advocacy for disability and neuro diversity inclusion, Chair of Ably Different, a member of the group of IOM3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining), Co-Chair of the EqualEngineers neurodiversity network, and Vice President of the The Geological Society with responsibility for EDI. The discussion begins with acknowledging that disability can sometimes be described as a forgotten dimension of diversity, and raises the issue of whether #equity, #diversity and #inclusion programs are fully including disabled and neurodiverse people. We look at what businesses need to be aware of for the inclusion and accessibility for their disabled and neurodiverse employees and consider the importance of reasonable adjustments. Martin recommends support for employers to adopt to ensure they become disability and neurodivergent inclusive, and how to adopt a more #inclusive #culture at work, whether in the process of change or just starting out. 🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/e4CG3-eD

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I begin the week with this Pledge! Please feel free to download and adapt for your company. One idea is to paste this on the Signature Wall and get your employees to sign. For more ideas on Embedding BCM and Developing BCM Culture in your organisation - please get in touch. DBD Training & Consultancy (OPC) Private Limited #bcm #businesscontinuity #businesscontinuitymanagement #businesscontinuityplanning #resilience

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This has crept round quickly! Deadline for paper proposals for the Midlands Conference in Critical Thought is 7th January. I'd particularly like to draw your attention to the stream I am co-convening with the excellent Dr Teodora Todorova - 'Critical Whiteness Studies'. There are 17 streams in total ranging across theory, politics, creativity, and healing. The MCCT is an annual interdisciplinary conference that provides a forum for emergent critical scholarship, broadly construed. The conference is free for all to attend and follows a non-hierarchical model that seeks to foster opportunities for intellectual critical exchanges where all are treated equally regardless of affiliation or seniority. There are no plenaries, and the conference is envisaged as a space for those who share intellectual approaches and interests but who may find themselves at the margins of their academic department or discipline. The MCCT is an offshoot of the London Conference in Critical Thought (LCCT) and shares its approach and ethos. https://lnkd.in/e_XvraN5

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We're going on tour! if you'd like to join our SME masterclass this year, see below 👇

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Enjoyed the COP29 UK Pavilion Roundtable on mission driven energy policy led by Chris Stark, the UK’s new head of Mission Control for Clean Power. Strong commitment to achieving clean power system in the uk by 2030 and lower prices. Project development time, and importantly planning and consenting, needs to be accelerated to achieve those in the pipeline as well as new projects to be leased. But this all needs research and innovation to speed up consenting using new technology and understanding in data collection and analysis. Research and innovation is also needed for the new floating offshore wind farms of the future. Opening up new frontiers for offshore wind, such as the Celtic Sea needs a strategic systems thinking approach to achieve benefits for local communities and biodiversity as well as decarbonisation and clean power for the UK.University of Plymouth Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub

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Worth reading to get a sense of engagement with the Green Paper and some nice graphics - but limited additional insight tbh? Industrial strategy depends on the right targeting for government support, skills development, regulatory reforms, and coordinated (regional?) efforts to align/manage public and private sector collaboration ..... etc.

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Brilliant news!! University of Sheffield to partner in 4 new sustainable manufacturing hubs, supported by EPSRC. Four new research hubs aiming to address the challenge of commercialising early stage research within key areas of manufacturing, such as aerospace, medicines and semiconductors, have been launched with academics at the University of Sheffield. The first hub - CSManuHubSust - aims to capitalise on the huge opportunity of compound semiconductor manufacturing, as identified in the UK’s national semiconductor strategy. The researchers will develop energy-efficient opto-electronics for use in key emerging technologies such as quantum. They will expand on the environmental benefits of compound semiconductors by creating new devices, such as mercury-free ‘night vision’ mid-infrared detector arrays and devices that both communicate and illuminate based on integrated transistors and LEDs. The hub is led by Cardiff University in collaboration with Professor Lenny Koh from the University of Sheffield’s Management School. I am honored and delighted to be the Sheffield lead for this hub. Find out more from the link below. #manufacturing #sustainability #semiconductors #aerospace #medicines

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Can the published Ofqual EPA data support comparability & standardisation? I have been having a nosy around the Ofqual data https://lnkd.in/e-32pWwE The report says "During 2023 to 2024, 159,875 EPAs were started across 456 apprenticeship standards and 144,895 EPAs were completed (90.6%) across 451 apprenticeship standards. 129,955 EPAs were completed on the first attempt (without failing and subsequently resitting or retaking any components) across 449 apprenticeship standards in 2023 to 2024." Seeing this, I got excited about being able to view starts, completions & grade profiles across standards &/or EpAOs, but sadly I can't see the data in the data sets. I am struggling to find information that will support standardisation & the maintenance of the comparability of standards within & across end-point assessments over time, but I will happily be proven wrong by anyone else that is digging into the data sets. ⭐ You can view the number of completers per standard, but you can't see starts on EPA. ⭐ You can see grade profiles, but only for 61 apprenticeship standards. Grading scales have not been shown unless there are at least 3 EpAOs & at least 250 EPAs completed, so that rules out a lot of standards (on the ESFA data set https://lnkd.in/e2byhKHb, there are over 300 standards with just 1 or 2 EpAOs) ⭐ You can see the number of components undertaken, but not the results per component or whether they were first time pass/merit/distinction. For example, Business Administrator: ➡️ Starts on EPA 2023/24: unknown ➡️ Completers on EPA 2023/24: 8,430 ➡️ Completers per EpAO: provided on table 5 ➡️ Grade profile: 61% pass & 39% distinction ➡️ Grade profile per EpAO: unknown ➡️ Components undertaken 2023/24: 26,880 ➡️ Grades per component: unknown. However, you can use your powers of deduction - in business admin, you can only gain a distinction by gaining a distinction in all 3 components ➡️ Pass first time or resits: unknown* For example, children, young people and families manager: ➡️ starts on EPA 2023/24: unknown ➡️ completers on EPA 2023/24: 350. ➡️ Completers per EpAO: provided on table 5 ➡️ Grade profile: 54% pass & 46% distinction ➡️ Grades profile per EpAO: unknown ➡️ Components undertaken 2023/24: 1,210 ➡️ Grades per component: unknown ➡️ Pass first time or resits: unknown* * Ofqual report - "As opportunities to resit or retake failed components are generally available to apprentices taking EPAs, “fail” grades are not routinely reported for overall EPAs. Therefore, this report also presents data on the proportion of apprentices completing EPAs who have passed each component (and therefore the overall EPA) at the first attempt, compared to those who have needed to resit or retake any component at least once" #epa #endpointassessment #epao #ofqual

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Short video interview here on the psychology of leadership ahead of the General Election tomorrow! Conversation article here, too - https://lnkd.in/epNK8U-z

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Absolutely the perspective needed to deliver decarbonisation of the GB electricity system at the pace required. 'Physical delivery of the system we need is fundamentally an engineering challenge that needs the highest levels of political and engineering leadership, alongside significant co-investment from the public and private sectors.' Read the report from the NEPC, RAE and the engineering community. https://lnkd.in/e4vRamaZ.

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Interested in how AI can shape researchers' career development? You're in luck! The latest episode of #ResearchCultureUncovered features Chris Webb and I discussing all things AI. To listen now, check out the link below 👇

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#Business news: University of East Anglia wins 'NR 4ward' #funding from Research England to help #researchers across Norwich Research Park set up #spinouts to develop and commercialise their #research work. Details in link below: https://lnkd.in/gCSStBXg

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We have been working with some fantastic partners to support wrestling to be safer and more equitable. If you are interested then check out this great article from our friends in the Research Office Loughborough University

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