Dr Fiona Creaby

FC_USE_2022

Dr Fiona Creaby

Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Management

My profile

Biography

Fiona is a senior lecturer (HEA Fellow, CMBE) in leadership and management based in the department of People & Performance (Faculty of Business and Law). She specialises in leadership development and organisational behaviour contributing to the Faculty’s executive education portfolio, including the Master of Business Administration (MBA), the Master of Sports Directorship (MSD) and degree apprenticeship programmes.  Prior to joining academia, Fiona’s working life has spanned various leadership and management roles across public sector, charity sector, and performance arts, including state schools.  

As a member of the Decent Work and Productivity Research Platform at ManMet, Fiona’s research focuses on identity studies, professional development and leadership from a sociological perspective, with an interest in sociocultural theory, social psychology and working lives, disability, and non-traditional routes of learning.

Interests and expertise

Fiona is in her second term as Vice-Chair for Finance & Risk (trustee) for the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) and her first term as Honorary Treasurer for Disability Rights UK.

Fiona actively collaborate with professional bodies, government departments and NGOs advising on professional development policy and practice. This has included advisory roles with the Department for Education (Funding Policy Unit), the Cabinet Office (Open Innovation Team), the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) and the School Business Professional (SBP) Development Board (UK state school sector).

Membership of professional associations

  • Higher Education Academy (Fellow)

  • British Academy of Management 

  • Chartered Association of Business Schools (Certified Management & Business Educator CMBE)

  • Chartered Management Institute 

  • Institute of School Business Leadership 

  • The British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) 

  • The British Educational Research Association (BERA)

  • The Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM) 

Get in touch

The Business School, Manchester Campus Business School
Please email for Appointment

Impact

Fiona’s research on  education business management has received considerable interest and advocacy across the UK state school sector and well as interest internationally. Fiona’s research has been influential to policy-makers at the state Department of Education (DfE) as a key driver to the development of business leadership strategy in state schools. Collaborative work continues via the ISBL Professional Development Board, a stakeholder group of policy makers, professional bodies, CPD providers and sector experts. 

Teaching

Fiona’s teaching focuses on the executive education portfolio and Masters programmes, working with career professionals from a diverse range of industries and sectors seeking to take the next step in their career pathway and leadership development journey.   

Executive Education programmes

  • Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • Master of Sports Directorship (MSD)
  • Degree Apprenticeships (Senior Leader/Chartered Manager) 

Supervision

Fiona is broadly interested in supervising qualitative projects on professional development and identity, work-based learning pathways, non-traditional routes of learning, executive education and leadership development.  She is very interested in projects that use identity as a lens to explore learning, development and inclusion in working lives, particularly from a sociological stance, including sociocultural theory and social psychology, and projects that focus on working lives, disability and career development. 

Doctoral Supervision

  • PhD Gateway partnership with San Jose State University, California
  • Faculty of Business and Law Doctoral College  

Principal Supervisor

Elizabeth Dill: Professional identity development in Library and Information Science (LIS) 

Research outputs

Fiona’s research focus includes identity studies, professional development and leadership with a particular interest in disability, working lives, and non-traditional routes of learning. Fiona is interested in constructionist, dialogical and critical perspectives of identity work and the impact of discourse, policy and culture on professional identity, leadership, institutional governance and organisational development. Her doctoral research drew on sociocultural perspectives of identity to explore learning and development in professional practice.