Iresha Donmanige is a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm016

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Iresha Donmanige is a researcher, educator, and psychologist whose work focuses on identity, intersectionality, and career progression - particularly among women academics in STEM. With a background in organisational psychology, management, and education, her career spans academic teaching, programme coordination, and research. Iresha is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Wollongong in Australia, investigating the career progression of women academics in Australian STEM academia.

Previously, Iresha held academic and leadership roles at institutions such as the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology and the Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology. She has taught and coordinated programmes affiliated with Coventry University and Liverpool John Moores University - both in the UK - and has supervised theses at the undergraduate level and conducted corporate training workshops on mental health and stress management. Her research has been presented at global conferences, including the Association of Industrial Relations Academics in Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ), the British Academy of Management (BAM), the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), and the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM). Her publications focus on identity, diversity, and careers related to vocational psychology. Combining her research expertise with extensive teaching and leadership experience, Iresha brings a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach to her work.

The day Iresha and I met to record this episode was a scorcher - 40 degrees Celsius and humid. Consequently, we elected to record this episode outside. Over the hour that we spoke, the weather gradually turned from hot and humid to cool (read: not as hot) and rainy - a change which can be heard in the shifting wind that provides the audio backdrop of this episode. For anybody who has, as I have, watched a summer storm blow in, the sounds will be strangely familiar. It's an added dimension that could not have been scripted.

Charvi Hasmukh Shukla is a PhD candidate at the XLRI - Xavier School of Management.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm015

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Charvi’s journey reflects her values of Communication, Humanity, Academia, Research, Vision, and Innovation – as embodied in the spelling of her name: CHARVI. She is driven by a deep curiosity about human behavior and a desire to contribute meaningfully to society. Her journey began early on, nurtured by her experiences as a child artist. Performing arts instilled in her the importance of communication, empathy, and understanding human emotions and interactions, laying the foundation for her fascination with human behavior and its complexities.

This fascination ultimately led her to pursue a career in Human Resources Management, where she could explore the intersection of individuals and organizations. Driven by a desire to contribute to knowledge creation and make a lasting impact, Charvi is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at India’s oldest and leading human resource management business school, XLRI - Xavier School of Management. While her doctoral research focuses on the evolving landscape of HRM, with a particular emphasis on the impact of artificial intelligence technology, skill development, and wellbeing, her research interests also extend to diversity and inclusion, International HRM, digital transformation of HR practices, and others. Her thesis - entitled "AI and Human Interplay: Exploring the Impact of Technology on Skills and Well-being" - investigates the complex relationship between technology and the human experience in the workplace. This research, conducted under the guidance of esteemed faculty at XLRI, aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of this critical area within the field of HRM.

Charvi and I first connected via the 2024 Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, a.k.a. ANZAM. She was gracious enough to visit me in my office at UTS to record an episode but when I went to check the recording file, I discovered it was completely corrupted and made us both sound like unintelligible robots.

My worst nightmare had come to pass: the recording was completely unusable. Fortunately, Charvi was still in town and willing to try again. Because we’d had a ‘dry run’, our conversation flowed very naturally and, to our surprise, went in largely different directions than the first one. As she relays in this episode, her recent experience presenting research at the ANZAM conference provided her with valuable insights and further motivated her commitment to contributing to the academic community. Toward the end of our conversation, she lays out her idea for a ‘loop’ of theory and practice development that I think all listeners will find particularly compelling.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded in my office at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) on December 23, 2024, following on from the 37th ANZAM Conference.

Alice Rickert is a PhD candidate at the University of St.Gallen.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm014

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This is a unique episode of The Knowledge Mill. On the sonic side of things, Alice was game for something I’ve always wanted to try: recording an episode outdoors. As you will hear, the cicadas on the University of Wollongong campus provide a very pleasant ambient backdrop. We also took an atypical approach to the conversation itself. Rather than focusing on Alice’s ongoing PhD research, we instead delved into the overall PhD experience in an effort to uncover and share insights and reflections on what many PhD students probably need to hear, but rarely do.

Consequently, you’ll hear Alice and I share personal lessons and reflect upon challenges, yes, but also the importance of fostering kindness and community in academia. We discuss common experiences in the hope that it will remind any PhD researchers listening that they are not alone in their journey, and that their community can be found along the way. Overall, this episode sees us reflecting on the vulnerabilities, triumphs, and personal growth that come with the PhD path.

Alice Rickert is a psychologist and head of the research project addressing the Impact of HR-Analytics on Responsible Leadership at the University of St. Gallen. As a psychologist, her earlier career included roles in organisational development, HR, and leadership training, particularly in the not-for-profit sector. Blending her expertise in organisational psychology and new technologies, her research focuses on the evolving dynamics of leadership in the age of AI.

Alice is also a speaker and lecturer at various universities, colleges, and foundations and has held several elected positions at the University of St. Gallen and the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, including serving as Vice President of the Doctoral Network Association (DocNet). Currently, she is a visiting researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on December 5, 2024 on the campus of the University of Wollongong during the 37th Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, a.k.a. ANZAM.

Elena Piere is a PhD candidate at the University of Otago.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm0013

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Elena Piere is a PhD candidate within the Food Waste Innovation team in the Food Science Department at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Elena's research is funded by a research grant from the Ministry for the Environment and centers on developing, trialing, and evaluating the impact of a behavior change intervention toolkit - co-designed with industry stakeholders - to enable practical and lasting change in the aged care sector.

Elena has a background in sustainable business. She has worked on food waste and sustainability projects in both academic and industry settings, including conducting waste audits and advising on waste reduction strategies for organisations. Beyond her research, Elena has experience in teaching, research, and governance roles, including serving as a postgraduate representative on the Otago University Net Carbon Zero Governance Board. She is passionate about bridging the gap between research and real-world application, ensuring that sustainability solutions are both evidence-based and actionable.

As we walked to the room where we recorded this episode, Elena and I immediately found ourselves headlong into very interesting chats about aspects of the PhD Life that made me wish we already had microphones in our faces. Which is to say, conversation came easy to us. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on December 3, 2024 on the campus of the University of Wollongong during the 37th Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management a.k.a. ANZAM.

Candice Wray is a PhD candidate at National Sun Yat-sen University.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm012

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Candice Wray is a Clinical Psychologist who graduated with a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. She has worked with a wide array of people including children with special needs, adolescents with behavioural challenges, and adults seeking to cope with everyday challenges. Candice is a Jamaican native who, in line with her passion of serving others and a quest for self-development, has embarked on a journey leading her to new horizons in the field of human resource management. This redirection of her career ultimately led her to Taiwan, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in Human Resource Management at National Sun Yat-sen University. Her research interests include organizational behaviours such as workaholism, proactive work behaviours and employee well-being.

Candice and I met for the first time even as we sat down to record this episode. Her experiences as an international student are a cornerstone of her ongoing research and came to be a very interesting part of a good-humoured conversation that I think you'll really enjoy.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on December 3, 2024 on the campus of the University of Wollongong during the 37th Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Academy Management a.k.a. ANZAM.

Mohsen Loghmani is a PhD candidate at Griffith University.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm011

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Mohsen Loghmani is a Work Design Consultant, Sports Management Researcher, and Educator. His work draws on top-down and bottom-up job design practices to increase the productivity of volunteers and professionals who work at various levels (i.e., community-based level to high-performance level). Mohsen graduated from the University of Guilan, Iran with a master's degree in Sport Management and joined the Department of Sport Management at Shafagh Institute of Higher Education in 2014 as an "Instructor". He taught Sports Management and Development related subject areas such as organizational theory, human resources management, organizational behaviour in sports, research methods in sports management, and seminars on undergraduate and postgraduate degree pathways. In July 2019, Mohsen moved to Griffith University as a "Visiting Scholar". After two years, in July 2021, he became a "Research Assistant" and "Sessional Tutor" at Griffith. At the same time, he started in the PhD program in Sport Management there. As his most important academic achievement, Mohsen, alongside Associate Professor Popi Sotiriadou and Dr Jason Doyle, was awarded the 2023 SMAANZ Industry Engagement Grant to undertake research around volunteering in community sports clubs.

Outside of academia, Mohsen has worked in the sports industry within sports organizations and events. He was Head of the Sport and Recreational Department at Shafagh Institute of Higher Education, Iran between 2015 and 2019 and organized several coaching and refereeing courses and sports events for students. He was also appointed as "Voluntary Football Clubs Development Consultant" by Football Mazandaran, Babolsar, IRAN in November 2021. He is currently providing some advice to the president and executive board in terms of how to establish voluntary football clubs across suburbs in Babolsar County. On the other hand, Mohsen started his refereeing career in 2005 in Iran, and he became a Football Australia Referee in July 2019. He won the Referee Of The Year Award in 2021 from Football Gold Coast, Australia.

By the time we sat down to record this episode, Mohsen and I had enjoyed a number of conversations (in the absence of microphones) that always seemed to veer into the philosophical. We indulge in that tendency a bit here, as well, in pondering the future of our shared field of sport management, though the questions we try to answer have implications for researchers in all fields.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on December 1, 2023 on the campus of the University of Canberra during the 29th Annual SMAANZ Conference.

Dan Ferguson is a PhD candidate at Swinburne University of Technology.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm010

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As a public servant turned consultant, and now as an academic researcher, Dan Ferguson has been lucky enough to combine his education in sport science and urban planning to forge a decade long career within the government sector. Having worked in private consulting, two Victorian Councils, Victorian State Government, and a YMCA managed aquatic centre, he has a unique combination of experience in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. During this time he established a firm belief in #CollaborationOverCompetition. That's why he founded the boutique planning consultancy theCommunityCollaborative: to act as a vehicle to harness the collective power of industry – mainly servicing local government clients.

Dan is a keen supporter of industry and the broader sport and community sector. He is currently the Executive Officer of industry association Parks and Leisure Australia (Vic/Tas), as well as a member on the partnerships committee of the Australian Society for Physical Activity (ASPA). He has previously held the role of chairperson of the SouthPort Community Centre and has been involved in various other community organisations.

Dan has worked across diverse areas including sport, social development, and public health. However, the majority of his career has focused on creating healthy communities through the built environment - from negotiating multi-million-dollar stadium upgrade contracts on behalf of the State government, to planning where footpaths should go in a local park. This has led to Dan embarking on the PhD journey within Swinburne University’s Sport Innovation Research Group with a research focus on the provision of public infrastructure that supports physical activity.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on December 1, 2023 on the campus of the University of Canberra during the 29th Annual SMAANZ Conference.

Olivia Bramley is a PhD candidate at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/tkm9

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Olivia Bramley is a PhD Student at RMIT University and a member of the Sport Innovation Research Group, specializing in the area of Sport Ecology. Prior to undertaking her PhD, Olivia completed a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science with honours at Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

Olivia’s PhD studies explore the role of sport organisations to operate within the planetary boundaries, and to respond to climate change. Specifically, she aims to bring together and engage all stakeholders in sport to develop regenerative sport that is harmonious with the natural environment. Olivia’s current research interests centre around research that enhances the positives of sport. She has been involved with multiple research projects as a research assistant across a range of topics including sport performance, mental health in sport, and sport for development.

Outside of her academic career, Olivia is a full-time professional footballer, playing in the WSL2 Women’s Championship in England. Her signing with Durham FC occurred after we spoke, and so it’s fun to hear her discuss her hopes for her football career in this episode. Owing to her dual career, Olivia describes herself as being somewhere between surviving and thriving. Her journey is a unique one, but she notes that she is a true believer in creating your own path and owning all that goes with it.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on November 29th, 2023 on the campus of the University of Canberra during the 29th Annual SMAANZ Conference.