Dr Philip Hadley
Research Associate

Profile

Biography

Philip joined the School for Business and Society as a Research Associate in May 2023, working with Professor Bob Doherty on projects related to food systems, hybrid business models and their associated supply chains. These include the Fix Our Food project, NIHR-funded research exploring community food assets in Bradford and Tower Hamlets (London), as well as a UKRI-funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership with a research institution and social enterprise in South Africa, aimed at supporting smallholder farmers to grow climate-resilient, indigenous crops, and engage in supply chain development.

Philip holds a PhD in International Development from SOAS, University of London, which explored hybrid co-operative companies in central India (farmer producer companies), as well as the international organic cotton supply chains in which they were operating. His research drew on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork to examine
everyday practices of co-operation, institution building and value chain integration, as well as their representation by a diverse array of actors. He explored the ways in which prevailing approaches to institutions and co-operation were both reproduced and contested in practice, and situated within a wider web of organisational dynamics and social relations.

Prior to his PhD, Philip worked in professional research, advocacy and project roles for national membership-based organisations, including the Trades Union Congress, voluntary sector umbrella body NCVO, and the National Union of Students. In a freelance capacity, he has carried out research for stakeholders including the NHS.

Publications

Selected publications

Hadley, P. (2023) Building Co-operation in Farmer Producer Companies and across ‘Value’ Chains: Institutional Dynamics and Power Relations in Central India. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London