Dr Katerina Nicolopoulou

Professor

Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship

Personal statement

Professor Katerina Nicolopoulou, PhD, FHEA, MSc, LLM

I am a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation and the Director of Research at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship. I am also the University Academic Lead for Socially Progressive Innovation and Entrepreneurship:

-Strategic sub- theme Leader for Socially Progressive Innovation and Entrepreneurship,https://www.strath.ac.uk/workwithus/innovationentrepreneurship/areasofexpertise/spie/

-One of the three Academic Mentors for the Doctoral Training Centre in Socially Progressive Innovation and Entrepreneurship

-The Director of the Research Group Global Socially Progressive Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which I founded and lead since 2020: Global Socially Progressive Entrepreneurship & Innovation Research Group | University of Strathclyde.

The Research Group encompasses socially sensitive ways to develop entrepreneurship and innovation in different Global contexts, and it is a member of the NBS Sustainability Centres global community.

I am a Member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) International Committee and I have an on-going interest in Higher Education global trends, as well as strategies for supporting HEIs to stay globally relevant and impactful.

I have several years of teaching experience and teaching team leadership at postgraduate (MSc), faculty-level MRes, faculty- level DBA (as Global DBA Director) as well as international post-experience /Executive MBA, having taught several times in UK, Europe, Gulf countries, S. East Asia and Hong Kong.

My research as PI and Co-I has been funded by various grants, including Newton Fund and GCRF (Scottish Funding Council), of which a total of over £100,000 has been dedicated to a portfolio of projects which I have led as Principal Investigator for the study of women entrepreneurs in unplanned urban communities.

Details can be found here : https://www.strath.ac.uk/whystrathclyde/news/2021/empoweringfemaleentrepreneursinlowincomecommunitiesofgreatercairo/

I am also a Trademark Inventor (UK Trademark 'Sword and Shield'), supported by the Strathclyde INSPIRE programme for a toolkit on Entrepreneurial Leadership and Resilience for Women Entrepreneurs

I have played an active part in a number of established international management conferences (such as AoM) through subject matter leadership and committee citizenship. Research outputs I have co-authored have won Awards such as the 2022 Emerald Literati Award for Outstanding Paper, as well as the Best paper award of the SIG Entrepreneurship at EURAM 2017. Between 2016-2019, I served as an Associate Editor for the ABS 3 journal European Management Review, and since 2020 I have been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship.

I have a comprehensive scholarship profile which includes 25 published peer reviewed papers, in journals such as Human Resource Management (FT50 list), British Journal of Management, Journal of Small Business Management, R&D Management, European Management Review, Organization & Environment, Business & Society, International Journal of Human Resource Management, and editorship of 6 journal Special Issues- including Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, European Management Journal, International Journal of Enterpreneurial Behavior and Research, and Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions- as well as 6 books with publishers such as E. Elgar, Routledge and Palgrave.

I have acted as external PhD examiner internationally, as well as a supervisor for multiple PhD students (several of them funded via different funding schemes, and some in partnerships with European Universities). I have also mentored and supported various ECRs and PhD students in a number of PhD Colloquia and dedicated workshops. I am an external advisor to the Leadership coaching programme at George Washington University, Centre of Excellence in Public Leadership DC., USA, which focuses on supporting organisations and communities for greater presence and impact, in alignment to the UN SDGs. Also, I am a mentor for the MENA Gender and Enterprise Network (MENAGEN), which focuses on building research capabilities with Early Career Researchers.

As a practitioner, I have several years of international experience in senior positions (strategic affairs and planning, corporate social responsibility, advisory, training, and company co-ownership). I have also acted numerous times as an International Judge for industry and research initiatives in social and sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation (Shell LiveWire, Philippe De Woot Award, UNESCO Newton Prize, Canegie Trust, as well as the European Commission).

I am highly experienced with international DBA and MBA engagement activities, including hosting Thought Leadership series, supporting alumni start-ups through the creative ideation/ concept refinement and internationalisation process, as well as developing and running international engagement events with strategic partners (practice-policy-academia- international delegations). For several years, I have hosted and chaired numerous events such as the Strathclyde Dialogues and the UAE Research evenings at Strathclyde. Further information about the Strathclyde Global DBA GCC cohorts can be found here:

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/blogs/SBS/post.aspx?id=1429

Further samples of my work and activities at Strathclyde can be found here:

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/blogs/SBS/post.aspx?id=1303

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/blogs/SBS/post.aspx?id=121

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/newsletter/2016-12/13-uae.asp

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/newsletter/2014-10/13-dialogues.asp

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/newsletter/2015-06/10-dialogues.asp

https://gemuae.uaeu.ac.ae/en/pdf/uae-research-strathclyde.pdf

My current PhD and DBA supervisees include:

- Christine Samy (Female entrepreneurship in Urban settlements of Greater Cairo- First supervisor) (University of Strathlyde PhD Studentship)

- Monica Vasquez de Solar (Social Entrepreneurship: Institutional perspectives- Second supervisor, Comillas partnership student)

- Sherine Mohamed (Entrepreneurship Education models-First supervisor) (University of Strathclyde PhD Studentship)

- Naraporn Thammadee (Social Entrepreneurs as Leaders and Human Capital in Social Enterprises-First supervisor) (University of Strathclyde PhD Studentship)

-Henry Emeka Eze (Youth Entrepreneurship and innovation in Nigeria and Ghana- First Supervisor) (University of Strathclyde PhD studentship)

- Afsa Mukasa (Socially Progressive Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre for Doctoral Training Researcher in Social Entrepreurship- Second supervisor)

-Ahmed Fahmy (Management of Innovation Processes in Large Corporations, DBA- Second supervisor)

-Sara Yaqoob (Social Impact Measurement in Social Enterprises, DBA-First supervisor)

-Meriem Khadia (Women Entrepreneurs and cybersecurity, DBA-Second supervisor)

- Beverly Best (Women and Digital Entrepreneurship, PhD-First supervisor) (University of Strathclyde PhD Studentship)

- Zakia Jabeen (Female Social Entrepreneurs in the Zero Waste Sector, PhD- First supervisor) (University of Strathclyde PhD Studentship)

- Markus Ecure (Entrepreneurship Education and Training in Nigeria- Second Supervisor)

-Miguel Garcia Sanchez (Knowledge co-creation in Urban agriculture communities- Second supervisor, Comillas partnership student)

-Mohammed Al Katheeri (Digital Transformation in the Public Sector-DBA,Second supervisor)

Expertise

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Area of Expertise

My research interests and expertise focus on:

Social, Diversity and Sustainability aspects of Entrepreneurship
Impactful Entrepreneurial Leadership
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and social innovation in the context of the Global South
Inclusive Entrepreneurship
Interdisciplinarity: philosophical roots and practical relevance for entrepreneurship, management and organisations
Social sciences as a lens to Entrepreneurship and organisations
Cosmopolitanism as a disposition and a mindset for addressing Global Challenges in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability

Having lived and worked in five different countries, across three continents, I have developed skills for international communication and stakeholder engagement across a range of sectors.

Findings from my research studies in the UAE have appeared in business publications in Dubai, such as Capital Business; Executive Women and Education Now! (Gulf News).

In the practitioner roles I have held, I have trained in methods for Strategic Planning, Consulting, GRI, SA8000 as well as Balanced scorecard.

Prize And Awards

EMERALD Literati Award for Outstanding Paper: Recipient; 2022
Faculty Award CABS FT50: Recipient; 2019
Best paper Award SIG Entrepreneurship, EURAM Conference 2017: Recipient; 2017

More prizes and awards

Publications

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Publications

Founding team entrepreneurial experience, external financing and social enterprise performance: Sahasranamam Sreevas, Lall Saurabh, Nicolopoulou Katerina, Shaw Eleanor; British Journal of Management Vol 35, pp. 519-536 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12726
Understanding legitimacy building in contexts through digital entrepreneurship: Imiren Efe, Lassalle Paul, Mwaura Samuel, Nicolopoulou Katerina; International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research (2023); https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-10-2022-0949
Challenging the assumptions of social entrepreneurship education and repositioning it for the future : wonders of cultural, social, symbolic and economic capitals: Karatas-Ozkan Mine, Ibrahim Shahnaz, Ozbilgin Mustafa, Fayolle Alain, Manville Graham, Nicolopoulou Katerina, Tatli Ahu, Tunalioglu Melike; Social Enterprise Journal Vol 19, pp. 98-122 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-02-2022-0018
How can the 'Do No Harm' principle inform the design and implementation of traditional innovation for sustainable performance: Fahmy Ahmed, Nicolopoulou Katerina; 36th Annual Conference of the British Academy of Management (2022)
The development of social and human capital on the employee retention aspect for the HRM in social enterprises in Thailand: Thammadee Naraporn, Nicolopoulou Katerina, Sambajee Pratima; 36th Annual Conference of the British Academy of Management (2022)
Dual nature of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and human resource management : a blessing or a curse?: Karatas-Ozkan Mine, Özgören Çağla, Yamak Sibel, Ibrahim Shahnaz, Tunalioğlu Melike Nur, Pinnington Ashly, Nicolopoulou Katerina, Baruch Yehuda; Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Vol 29, pp. 1578-1594 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2305

More publications

Teaching

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Teaching

Reviewing the Literature in Business Subjects (MRes/PhD) (ongoing, for 7 years)
Global Innovation Lab (MSc) (ongoing, for 3 years)
Qualitative Methods for Bottom-of-the-pyramid contexts (Centre for Doctoral Training in Socially Progressive Innovation and Entrepreneurship) (for 3 consecutive years)

For 7 consecutive years, I have taught the capstone MBA module Strategic Consulting in Practice (SCIP)
For 8 consecutive years, I have held the role of MBA Subject Co-ordinator and teaching team leader for the Strathclyde MBA core subject Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership (EML) offered in 8 different countries