Professor Kamal Birdi
Professor of Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School.
I have been part of the University of Sheffield for many years, completing my undergraduate, MSc and PhD Occupational Psychology degrees in the 1980s and 1990s.
Since then, I have worked here as a researcher and an academic in the Psychology department and the Management School.
My research, teaching and practitioner passions concern enhancing creativity and innovation in organisations. This involves learning how to cross boundaries so that we connect different people and ideas together – we all have unique insights we can offer from our diverse perspectives and it is about allowing those to be shared and built upon.
In doing this, I have had the wonderful opportunity to engage with hundreds of organisations in order to help them develop innovative solutions to their complex challenges.
Indeed, one reason I have remained here is because I do subscribe to the civic responsibility values of the University in translating our research and teaching into something genuinely useful for society. Having many supportive, collaborative and humorous colleagues also helps!
It’s my hope that in making visible the varied paths that I and my BAME colleagues have taken we will inspire upcoming generations from similar backgrounds to discover and realise their academic potential.