Dr Chidozie Umeh
Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management

Profile

Biography

Dr Chidozie (‘Chido’) Umeh is Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management (HRM) and Deputy Director (Sustainable Growth, Business & Economic Productivity Pathway) at the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership. He is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Champion for the School for Business and Society and a member of the School’s EDI Committee. He joined the School for Business and Society, University of York, in 2020 and holds a PhD in Business and Management from Queen Mary University of London. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, AdvanceHE) and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Chido serves as Associate Editor of Personnel Review and as (co-)Guest Editor of several Special Issues. He has co-edited two Special Issues of Personnel Review (2022; 2024) and is currently co-Guest Editing forthcoming Special Issues on workplace violence (Human Resource Management) and on reframing feminism through non-Western epistemologies (Gender, Work & Organization). His research, supported by external funding from prestigious organisations, focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion, and sustainable management practices in diverse and international contexts. His work has been published in leading international journals, including Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, Personnel Review, Work, Employment & Society, Gender, Work & Organization, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of Open Innovation. Chido regularly presents at international conferences and convenes thematic tracks at the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS). He is an active member of the Academy of Management (AoM), British Sociological Association (BSA), British Academy of Management (BAM), and European Academy of Management (EURAM).

Departmental roles

Deputy Director (Sustainable Growth, Business & Economic Productivity Pathway), White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership

EDI Champion School for Business & Society and Member EDI Committee

Research

Overview

Research Interests:

• Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in organisations, with particular attention to power, inequality, and institutional reproduction
• Theoretical and conceptual approaches to management grounded in sociological theory, including critical HRM, intersectionality, and practice-based perspectives
• Organisational responses to contemporary challenges, including artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic decision-making, digitalisation, sustainability, and the governance of work
• Human resource management and leadership practices across emerging and developed economies
• Sustainable management and development outcomes across national and transnational contexts

Publications

Selected publications

• Cooke, F., Umeh, C., Jiang, Z., Ren, S. (2025) From Workplace-based to Work-related Violence: Reframing HRM Research and Practice in the Era of Growing Tensions. Human Resource Management (CABS 4/FT 50).
• Umeh, C., Cooke, F. L. (2025). White Feminism and the Limits of Solidarity: A Call for Epistemic Reckoning. Gender, Work & Organization (CABS 3).
• Ng, E. S., Stanton, P., Umeh, C., Bamber, G. J., Stone, D., Lukaszewski, K., Aw, S., Lyons, S., Schweitzer, L., Ren, S., Ozbilgin, M., & Varma, A. (2025). Megatrends affecting the world of work: Implications for human resource management. Personnel Review. (CABS 2/ ABDC A).
• Kolawole, O. A., Dora, M., Umeh, C., Hina, S. M., Eldabi, T. (2025). Leveraging organizational agility in B2B ecosystems to mitigate food waste: A stakeholder perspective. Industrial Marketing Management. 125, 254-271 (CABS 3)
• Ng, E., Stanton, P., & Umeh, C. (2025). Re-emphasising human resources in management: Where have we come from and where are we going? Personnel Review, 54(5), 1107-1112. (CABS 2/ ABDC A)
• Soe, A. C., Wongsaichia, S., Pienwisetkaew, T., Umeh, C., Yaroson, E. V., & Ketkaew, C. (2025). Blockchain-enabled carbon footprint traceability in Thailand’s organic food sector: A quintuple helix innovation approach Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity (Elsevier), 11, 100656.[Scopus Q1]
• Umeh, C., Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. (2024) A Bourdieusian exploration of ethnic inequalities at work: the case of the Nigerian Banking Sector. Work Employment and Society, 38(4), 885-910. (CABS 4)
• Umeh, C., Cornelius, N. (2024) Financial Wellbeing and Ethnicity. In: Forson, C., Healy, G., Özturk, M., Tatli, A. (Eds.) Research handbook on inequality and work. Chapter 23, (pp. 335-353). London: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Umeh, C., Cornelius, N., Wallace, J. (2023) Exploring equality, diversity, and Inclusion in multiethnic settings: A context-sensitive approach. Human Resource Management Journal, 33(1):148-169. (CABS 4*)
• Umeh, C. (2019) The Ethnicization of Identity. In: Mahadevan, J., Primecz, H. and Romani, L. (Eds.) Critical cross-cultural management – An intersectional approach to culture. New York/London: Routledge. Chapter 11 (pp. 137-149).

Funded Reports

• DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN INSIGHTS REPORT: Unlocking diversity in procurement practices and removing barriers to growth (2024). Commissioned by Business in the Community (BITC) with YouGov
• Cornelius, N., Gillon, A., Umeh, C. (2023): Mental health and wellbeing policies and practices: the lived experiences of academics in UK Business Schools. A research report funded by the British Academy of Management (BAM)
• Cornelius, N., Umeh, C., Abdullah, R. Khan, B., Marks., S., Bau, L. (2023). Voices from the Race at Work Survey. A research report funded by Business in the Community (BiTC)/Enterprise Rent A Car Foundation
• Beech, N., Cornelius, N., Gordon, L., Healy, G., Ogbonna, E., Sanghera, G., Umeh, C., Wallace, J., and Woodman, P. (2017) Delivering diversity: Race and ethnicity in the management pipeline. London: Chartered Management Institute & British Academy of Management.

Refereed Conference Papers:

• 2025. Professional Gatekeeping and Migrant Exclusion: An Intersectional Analysis of the Career Experiences of Black African Legal Professionals in the UK. British Academy of Management Conference (September 1-5, 2025).
• 2025. Rethinking Inclusion: Towards A Dialogic Approach to Addressing Inequalities at Work. British Sociological Association Conference (April 23-25,2025)
• 2025. A Sociological Exploration of the Experiences of Minoritised Employees in ‘Post-Race’ Workplaces in the UK. British Sociological Association Conference (April 23-25,2025)
• 2024. Examining women’s experiences of gender equality progress – A capabilities approach. Academy of Management (AoM).
• 2023. Leadership and Identity at Work: A Study in Photo-Elicitation. Academy of Management (AoM) Conference.
• 2023. Bridging the service-quality gap in international hospitality business in Emerging markets. Academy of Management (AoM) Conference.
• 2023. Exploring women’s lived experiences of gender diversity management in a Middle Eastern Context – A Capabilities Approach.
• 2023. Crying more than the bereaved: Exploring women's lived experiences of gender diversity management in a middle eastern context. European Academy of Management (EURAM), Dublin, Ireland.
• 2023. Exploring Relational Approaches to Human Resource Management in Turbulent Periods. European Academy of Management (EURAM), Dublin, Ireland.
• 2022. Examining Women's Experience of Gender Equality Progress: A Capabilities Approach. Academy of Management (AOM) Conference.
• 2022. A Foucauldian exploration of human resource management practices in post-colonial, global-south contexts.  European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference.
• 2022. Managing human resources in turbulence: A Neo-Institutional Perspective. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference.
• 2021. An intersectional exploration of gender, ethnicity, class/status and inequality in multi-ethnic settings. Gender, Work and Organisation (GWO) Conference.
• 2021. Triumph of theory or purpose? Contextualising intersectionality in under-researched contexts: Insights from Nigeria. Gender, Work and Organisation (GWO) Conference.
• 2021. An agenda for researching gender inequalities in under-researched contexts, European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), Colloquium.
• 2020. An Intersectional Exploration of Ethnic Identity, Class and Inequality in a Multiethnic Context. Academy of Management (AoM)
• 2019. Contextualising intersectionality in the Global South: insights from Nigeria. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium
• 2019. Crying more than the bereaved? Researching gender in under-researched contexts: A gender research agenda. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium.
• 2019. Leader-member-exchange and the social (re) construction of leadership in Nigerian organisations European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS)
• 2018. The construction of ethnic Identity in Nigeria: Implications for diversity management. European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium.
• 2018, Perspectives on the intersecting identities of female academics in Saudi Arabia. British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference.

2017. Award for Best Paper:       

National cultures and employee commitment in a developing country context:          

Perspectives from Nigeria. 

Developmental paper, Presented at The British Academy of Management (BAM) 

31st Annual BAM Conference. 

Awarded Best Paper –International Business and International Management Stream. 

Warwick, United Kingdom.

2016. Award for Best Developmental Paper: 

University of Bradford, 

National culture and employee commitment in Nigerian Organizations: Exploring the conflicts and Relationships. 

Developmental paper presented at The University of Bradford PhD Conference. 

Bradford. UK

External activities

Overview

Editorial Engagement

Member of the Editorial Board - Personnel Review (CABS 2)

• Associate Editor (current)
• Special Issues Editor 2023-2025
• Managing Editor 2022-2023
• Editorial Assistant 2019-2021

Guest Editor for Special Issues (Call for Papers):

• Human Resource Management: From workplace violence to work-based violence: Advancing human resource management scholarship with policy and practical implications[Submissions window: 1 October 2025 - 30 June 2026] Guest Editors: Fang Lee Cooke (Monash University, Australia, cooke@monash.edu) Zhou Jiang (RMIT University, Australia, joe.jiang@rmit.edu.au) Shuang Ren (Queen’s University Belfast, UK, s.ren@qub.ac.uk) Chidozie Umeh (University of York, UK, chidozie.umeh@york.ac.uk)
• Gender, Work & Organization: Towards a More Inclusive Approach to Feminist Research and Praxis[Submission window: 1-31 March 2026] Guest Editors: Fang Lee Cooke (Monash University, Australia, cooke@monash.edu) Chidozie Umeh (University of York, UK, chidozie.umeh@york.ac.uk) Talia Esnard (University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. talia.esnard@uwi.edu)

• Ng, E., Stanton, P., Umeh, C. (2023-2025). Re-emphasising human resources in management: Where have we come from and where are we going? Personnel Review (CABS 2) 
• Umeh, C., Murtada, D., Pezet, E., & Cornelius, N. (2020-2022) Local engagement with global challenges: geopolitics of HRM. Personnel Review (CABS 2) 

Peer Review Engagement

• Human Resource Management Journal 
• Human Resource Management
• Journal of International Business Studies 
• International Journal of Human Resource Management 
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 
• Personnel Review

Research projects

• 2026. Business in the Community (BiTC). Co-PI [With Queen Mary University of London and University of Dundee] Race at Work 2025 (18–24 Booster Sample) – Thematic Review [Funder: BiTC - £13,000].
• 2025. Business in the Community (BiTC). Co-PI [With Queen Mary Univ. of London] DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN in the UK [Funder: BiTC - £11,500]
• 2023-2026. The LEAD Curriculum. Co-PI [With Queen Mary Univ. of London] Evaluation of Social Mobility and Leadership development interventions by The LEAD Curriculum [Funder: Santander - £40,000) 
• 2023-2024. Business in the Community (BiTC). Co-I [With Queen Mary Univ. of London and Univ. of Birmingham] Race at Work Survey Panel Data Analysis: Analysis of qualitative data from three national surveys conducted by BiTC on race, equality, and work [Funder: Enterprise Rent a Car Foundation/Lloyds Banking Group - £16,227)
• 2021-2023. British Academy of Management (BAM). Co-I Mental health and wellbeing policies and practices: the lived experiences of academics in UK Business Schools: [Funder: British Academy of Management - £11,775)
• 2020-2021. Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) (The Cabinet Office/ Treasury). Co-PI – Review: Financial Wellbeing and Ethnicity [Funder: Money and Pensions Service - £10,000)
• 2016-2017. Chartered Management Institute (CMI/British Academy of Management (BAM) Co-I Delivering Diversity: Race and Ethnicity in the Management Pipeline Project: [Funder: CMI/BAM -£10,000) 

External Engagement:                   

Visiting Research Fellow - Université Paris Nanterre, Paris, France. 

2024. Speaker/Panellist: Voices from the Race at Work Surveys. Sponsored by Business in the Community (BiTC)/Enterprise Rent A Car Foundation

2024. Speaker/Panellist: Diverse and Inclusive Supply Chains, Sponsored by Business in the Community (BiTC) with YouGov

2023. Speaker/Panellist: The Mobilise Project on Adaptive Preferences. Sponsored by the LEAD Curriculum

2023. Speaker/Panellist: The Mobilise Project: Social Mobility and Leadership. Sponsored by the LEAD Curriculum/Santander

2023. Speaker: Publishing in Business and Management – 2023. Sponsored by Centre for Leadership and Empowerment, University of Bolton, UK

2022. Speaker/Panellist, Race at work: the hidden barriers facing diverse talent in the UK. Sponsored by Business in the Community (BiTC)/ Enterprise Rent A Car Foundation

2022, 2023.2024. Co-Organiser: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development CIPD), North Yorkshire Branch) Mock Mediation Event, University of York

2021-2024. Guest Lecturer: Managing Diversity in the Global North & South. School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London.

2021.2024. Guest Lecturer: Employment Relations in a Global South Context. School of Business    and Management, Queen Mary University of London

Research Leadership

Convener/Chair, Professional Development Workshops (PDW) and Conferences:

• Convener, Reimagining (In)equality and Inclusion in AI-Powered Organisational and HR Ecosystems, with Prof Fan Lee Cooke (Monash Business School, Monash University, Australia) and Prof Jacqueline O’Reilly (University of Sussex Business School). European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference. Jul. 9 - 11, 2026.

• Convener, Beyond boundaries: Unravelling creative, destructive, an ambivalent dynamics of leadership in the world of work, with Prof Nelarine Cornelius (Queen Mary University of London) and Prof Thomas Garavan (Cork University).European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference, Athens, Greece – Jul. 3 - 5, 2025

• Convener: Revealing and addressing unaccounted configurations of inequalities in the world of work, with Prof Lilian Otaye-Egbede (Uni. of Liverpool) and Prof Eddy Ng (Queens University).European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Conference, Milan, Italy- Jul. 4 - 6, 2024

• Co-Chair, Professional Development Workshop (PDW): Mental Health and Wellbeing: the lived experiences of Academics in UK Business Schools: Implication for Policy and Practice, with Professor N. Cornelius (Queen Mary), Dr A. Gillon (UWS), Prof Emma Perry (Cranfield University): (BAM) Conference, University of Sussex, UK Sep. 1 - 6, 2023

• Co-Chair, PDW, Mental Health and Wellbeing of Business School Academics: What works? with Professor N. Cornelius (Queen Mary)and Dr A. Gillon (UWS), British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference, University of Manchester, UK Aug. 31- Sep 2, 2022

• Co-Chair, PDW, Mental Health and Wellbeing for Business School Academics, with Professor N. Cornelius (Queen Mary) and Dr A. Gillon (UWS), BAM Conference, University of Manchester, UK Aug 31-Sep. 3, 2021

• Discussant, Fluid Workers and Fluid Work Arrangements in the Age of Digital Technologies. Presenter Symposium, Academy of Management (AoM) Conference 2025).

• Panellist, Panel Symposium, Linguism's Impact on Careers: Identity Formation, Mobility, Flexibility in Multinational Corporation Academy of Management (AoM) Conference, 2025).

Consultations

• Umeh, C and Cornelius, N. (2021) Ethnic disparities and inequality in the UK: call for evidence Ethnic Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities 
• Cornelius, N, Healy, G, Umeh, C. (2021): Financial Wellbeing and Ethnicity in the UK, A Literature Review for Money and Pensions Service (Cabinet Office/Treasury)

Teaching

Postgraduate

Dr Umeh has been variously nominated for several teaching awards, including Assessment and Feedback Champion, Innovative Teaching, Academic Support, and Teacher of the Year.

Module Leader (Postgraduate):

• Human Resource Management in Context
• Global Perspectives on Human Resource Management & Employment Relations