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Dr Paul Higgins

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Associate Professor

Paul is an interdisciplinary social scientist who uses the critical social sciences to research and explore leadership, work, and policy. His current research examines the unification of organisational and comparative institutionalism, temporal-spatial quality of life conditions across England, and managerial professionalisation.

[email protected]

ORCID

Faculty:
Faculty of Business and Law
School:
Management
Location:
Chelmsford
Areas of Expertise:
Business Management
Research Supervision:
Yes
Background

Paul has extensive experience of working in various international, European, and national research and consultancy projects funded by the European Social Fund, the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC), the Research Grants Council, and the Higher Education Academy. He was previously awarded an institutional level Teaching Fellowship and continues to research and apply Student Approaches to Learning and Thinking Styles theories. Paul has published consistently in top-tier, world-leading journals, including the Human Resource Management Journal (HRMJ), the Human Resource Management Review (HRMR), Work Employment and Society (WES), Journal of Cleaner Production, and Applied Geography.

Research interests
  • Managerial Professionalisation
  • Temporal-Spatial Quality of Life
  • Studies in Higher Education
  • Public Services Hybridity
  • Leadership and HRM
Areas of research supervision

Paul is an experienced research degree supervisor with experience in both PhD and professional doctorates. He is interested in supervising students on the following topics:

  • Professionalisation
  • Quality of life and Wellbeing
  • Applied Institutional Theory
  • Public Services Hybridity
  • Leadership
  • HRM
Teaching

Paul has extensive experience of teaching undergraduate and post-graduate students in leadership, human resource management, research methods, and project supervision.

Qualifications
  • PhD, Middlesex University
  • MA Social Policy, Distinction, Middlesex University
  • PGCertHE
Memberships, editorial boards
  • Chartered Management Institute
  • International Journal of Management Education
Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange
  • Teaching Development Grant - Expanding class sizes: transformative innovations in the student learning experience, 2016-2018, HK$130,000.
  • ESRC-RGC bilateral, Professionalization of HRM in Hong Kong and United Kingdom 2012-2015, HK$402,500 + £110,385.
  • Start-Up Grant, The thinking styles and workplace experiences of certified human resource practitioners in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, 2009-2010, HK$84,222.
  • British Higher Education Academy, Student approaches to learning: innovative lessons from their individual learning reviews, £35,000.
Selected recent publications
  • Higgins P. (2026) Research Methodologies in International Human Resource Management in Tarique, Vaiman, King, and Khilji, Encyclopaedia of International Human Resource Management and Global Talent Management
  • Higgins, P., Roper, I., & Zhao, L. 2025. Professionalisation and convergence‐divergence of HRM: China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom compared. Human Resource Management Journal, 35(1), 206-228.
  • Higgins, P. Roper, I., & Lo M-F, 2025. Corporate professional stratification in human resource management: a sequential multi-method Hong Kong and United Kingdom analysis, Journal of Professions and Organisations, 12(1)
  • Higgins, P. 2024. Conceptual and methodological issues in international and comparative HRM: Transferring lessons from comparative public policy. Human Resource Management Review, 34(2).
Recent presentations and conferences
  • Higgins, P. (2023) Unlocking the secrets of happiness: exploring quality of life and wellbeing, Chelmsford Science Festival, Anglia Ruskin University, 24 October