Email: [email protected]

Dr Imelda McCarthy is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Research Fellow at Aston Business School. Her research focuses on leadership, management, organisational change, and productivity. She completed her PhD at Aston Business School, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), entitled ‘The Complexity of Leadership and Organisations’.

Imelda has contributed to a range of impactful research projects at Aston, including her work with the Advanced Services Group, where she was part of the ESRC-funded initiative ‘Understanding How Servitization Can Improve UK Economic Productivity and Environmental Performance’. This project explored how manufacturers can shift towards advanced services and more sustainable business models, with implications for productivity and green growth in the UK.

She was also a lead researcher at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME), where she worked on the ESRC-funded Productivity from Below project. This study sought to understand and improve the management and engagement practices of microbusinesses, particularly those led by ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Her contributions to this area were recognised through the prestigious ESRC Prize for Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact, awarded in collaboration with Professor Monder Ram, for work supporting microbusinesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before joining Aston University, Imelda was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Work Psychology (IWP) at the University of Sheffield, where her work focused on healthcare management. She contributed to two major national projects. The first, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in collaboration with King’s College London, was the first UK-wide evaluation of Schwartz Center Rounds®—organisational forums designed to support staff wellbeing and foster a more compassionate healthcare culture. The second project, commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care and conducted in partnership with the University of Cambridge, explored cultures of openness in the NHS. This research examined how organisations can build transparency, psychological safety, and trust, particularly following high-profile failures in care.

Imelda has published in outlets such as Human Resource Management Journal, has extensive research and consultancy experience, is trained as a team coach, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

• Leadership and Management
• Work and Organisational Psychology
• Productivity
• Organisational Change
• Research Methods

Imelda has experience of teaching at postgraduate level. At the University of Sheffield, she taught on the MSc in Leadership and Management programme. At Aston University, she has contributed to modules including Organisational Behaviour, Leadership, and Research Methods across a range of programmes, such as the MSc in Work Psychology, MSc in Human Resource Management, and the PhD/DBA Research Methods course.

• PhD Psychology. Thesis title: The Complexity of Leadership and Organisations.
• MSc Work Psychology and Business
• PGDip Psychology
• BSc (Hons) Psychology and Information Technology

• Higher Education Academy Fellowship
• Associate Fellow (British Psychological Society)
• Registered Practitioner Psychologist (Health & Care Professional Council)
• Chartered Occupational Psychologist (British Psychological Society)