New to the Business School: Dr Mark Hall

New to the Business School: Dr Mark Hall
Senior lecturer in project and operations management and co-ordinator of MidEx

I joined the university in the New Year as a senior lecturer in project and operations management. I have also taken over the co-ordination of the MidEx programme, based in the Business School. Previously, I was a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol and, before that, a Research Fellow at the University of Bath. Although I have been based in Business and Management schools for over 15 years, I originally trained as a surveyor and worked in the construction industry for several years. It was during a stint in the Middle East that I saw how profound the effect of cultural differences were on running businesses and this prompted me to do a PhD looking at the impact of culture on international construction management. With some inevitability, this took me into academe, where I ended up looking at lean and agile production methods at Bath and from there, into teaching and researching project and operations management more generally.

As well as teaching project and operations management, I have also taught Change and Innovation Management, Organizational Theory and Research Methods at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. I am still co-supervising three PhD students from Bristol, as well as taking on one of the MidEx PhD students now that I am at Birmingham.

MidEx is a big and exciting role I have taken on since arriving at Birmingham, involving the co-ordination of a whole programme of activities linked to engagement with businesses in the Midlands. This presents a host of research and engagement opportunities as well as possible teaching programmes and student placements. The MidEx programme can act as a conduit for all of these.

My research has generally focused on project management. My current research interests are in resilience, reliability and risk in project environments. I have also looked at sustainability in projects and operations and explored the relationship between the public and private sectors in project delivery. With a colleague at Cranfield, I am currently a book on project resilience, which we hope to have finished by the end of the year.

Outside work, I follow Southampton FC (come on you Saints!) and rugby union. Arriving in Birmingham seems to have prompted a whole load of renewals for me, not just in work. I found my fencing kit languishing in the loft, untouched since we had children, and plan to join the Birmingham fencing club which, conveniently, meets at the university. I’ve got back into cycling to and from work and we have taken on the renovation of an old, Edwardian house in Moseley, which we will hopefully have finished before Christmas.

MidEx website: birmingham.ac.uk/midex

Email: m.a.hall.1@bham.ac.uk

Phone: 0121 414 8577