Dr Vanessa Iwowo

Dr Vanessa Iwowo is Associate Professor/Reader in Leadership & Organizational Psychology and Programme Director for the MSc in Human Resource Management, at Birkbeck, University of London, as well as Senior Visiting Fellow at LSE where she is Lead Academic Coach and Facilitator on the Programme for African Leadership.

She is an award-winning management scholar whose research focuses on ways of enhancing Human Resources and Leadership Development in international cross-cultural contexts. Her interests lie in the critical study of processes, interactions and power relationships through which knowledge is generated and disseminated, particularly in the fields of leadership development and management education. Before joining Birkbeck, Vanessa taught Leadership and Decision Sciences at LSE and previously at the Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter Business School, from where she also received her PhD in Leadership Studies. Her research in critical leadership studies has received global recognition and she sits on the Commonwealth Panel of Experts and remains a leading voice in issues that centre on Global HR and Leadership Development.

As an early pioneer of the scholarly movement for Decolonizing the Curriculum, Vanessa’s work in the area of Decolonizing Management Education is internationally recognized as groundbreaking. Her doctoral thesis on Leadership Development received the prestigious ‘US Academy of Management ‘Best Prize’ in Critical Management Studies’. Since then, her work on Leadership Development has gone on to win several awards such as the notable 'Emerald Literati Award for Excellence' as well as the US Academy of Management 'Best Critical Paper' Award. She is also a recipient of the prestigious British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship for research in Gender and Leadership Development in Africa. In 2024, she was again recognized by the UK Media as ‘HR Most Influential Thinker’. When not working, Vanessa enjoys composing and recording music.

Awards

‘HR Most Influential Thinker’ 2024

Emerald Literati Award for Excellence, Academy of Management Best Critical Paper 2016

Selected Publications

Gaggiotti, H.; Cicmil, S.; Iwowo, V. (2025) Strategic Organizational Euthanasia: The Cost of Dying Strategically in Project Management, Strategy & Leadership.

Iwowo, V., Case, P., and Iwowo, S., (2023). Leadership & Culture, In The SAGE Handbook of Leadership, 2^nd Edition. (Eds) Schedlitzki, D., Larsson, M., Carroll, B., Bligh, M., and Epitropaki, O. UK: SAGE.

Iwowo, S., Iwowo, V., & Forrest-Sleight, I. (2023). Introducing the Ubuntu Collaboration Model: An Intersectional Filmmaking Framework for Higher Education Teamwork-Pedagogy. Communication Cultures in Africa, 3 (1).

Adisa, T.A, Mordi, C., Simpson, R and Iwowo, V. (2021) Social Dominance, Hyper-Masculinity and Career Barriers in Nigeria (Gender, Work and Organisation, ABS 3 Journal)

Adisa, T.A., Cooke, F.L. and Iwowo, V. (2020) Mind Your Attitude: The Impact of Patriarchy on Women’s Workplace Behaviour, Career Development International, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 146-164.