Dr Saima Ahmad is a Senior Lecturer in Business Administration at RMIT University's School of Management. She holds a PhD in Management from Monash University. Her research focuses on the development of sustainable work environments and the promotion of individual well-being by cultivating positive leadership styles. She is dedicated to advancing knowledge on leadership, organizational behavior and workplace dynamics to create positive impacts within communities. She has published widely in high-ranking journals and actively contributes to academic conferences and industry collaborations. Her dedication to student success and scholarly excellence has earned her recognition through multiple teaching and research awards.

Saima served as the HDR Coordinator for the Graduate School of Business and Law (GSBL) at RMIT University from 2022 to 2024, and adopted a candidate-centered approach to foster a supportive and inclusive research community. Overseeing the PhD (Business), PhD (Law), and Master by Research programs in Business and Law, she ensured smooth program operations while supporting HDR students and their supervisors. She played a key role in managing student recruitment and selection, facilitating professional development initiatives, and coordinating social events and activities to enhance the student experience. Under her leadership, the school surpassed previous records for HDR completions. Her outstanding leadership and commitment to HDR development were recognized with the 2022 RMIT GSBL Dean’s Merit Award for HDR Leadership Excellence. 

In the RMIT MBA program, Saima coordinates and delivers courses such as Leadership Issues in International Management and Leading in the Age of Digital Disruption. She empowers students with valuable insights and equips them with the necessary skills to thrive in the dynamic business landscape. Saima serves on the editorial board of the European Management Journal and PLoS One. She sits on the ABEN Advisory Committee.

Professional interests:
- Member of the Academy of Management

- Member of the European Academy of Management
- Member of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management
- Member of the Australasian Business Ethics Network

Lola Akin Ojelabi is Professor and Head of Department (Law) in the School of Law. 

Lola’s research focuses on access to justice and conflict resolution: appropriate dispute resolution (ADR) including in relation to ethics, mediator responsibilities, teaching ADR in the law curriculum, cultural appropriateness, ADR and access to justice and ADR and social justice. Lola is interested in the role of international law in promoting global peace and justice particularly, how finding shared values may assist in the resolution or management of seemingly intractable conflicts.  She is co-author of Ethics and Justice in Mediation (2018), Dispute Resolution in Australia: Cases, Commentary and Materials (2023), Alternative Dispute Resolution (2026).

Carol Bond is a political and social scientist investigating business-related socio-economic and policy topics in the energy and resources sectors.

Industry Experience
Carol works closely with the energy and extractives industries as well as peak bodies. Research partners include: Energy Networks Australia (ENA), Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA), The Australian Hydrogen Council (AHC), Australian Institute of Mining & Metals (AusIMM), Jemena, Origin, and the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG).

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Engagement

Carol is privileged to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland on topics such as entrepreneurship, business management, protecting Indigenous IP, while supporting deep connection to culture and country.

Prue is aLecturer (Management) in the School of Management. Her research interests include improving health and social care service delivery, and understanding how institutional change may be provoked and harnessed for the social good. Prior to working in academia, Prue worked in the NGO and Government sectors as a senior researcher and policy officer on a number of public policy and service delivery issues affecting disadvantaged Australians.

Her PhD dissertation explored how firms support former prisoners to reintegrate into the workforce.

Key activities:

Academic Director, School of Management

Course co-coordinator: BUSM1094 Organisations; BUSM1100 Organisations

Sara Charlesworth is Professor Emerita in the College of Business & Law.

She was previously Professor of Work, Gender & Regulation in the School of Management (2014-2022) and an RMIT Distinguished Professor (2019-2022). Sara is a socio-legal scholar whose research focuses on gender (in)equality in employment at the labour market, industry and organisational levels. She has held two Australian Research Council fellowships, including a Future Fellowship (2013-2018), and held several ARC projects including on sexual harassment, gender equality and decent work, quality part-time work, work/life balance and gender-equitable organisational change in male-dominated organisations.

Over recent years of Sara’s research has focused mainly on low-paid work in feminised industries and on paid care work. Her last major ARC-funded research was the Discovery project ‘Decent Work & Good Care: International Approaches to Aged Care’. She is currently a chief investigator on a Canadian SHHRC partnership grant ‘Imagining Age–Friendly “Communities” within Communities: International Promising Practices’, for which she is hosted the Melbourne case study in April 2024. 

Sara has published and presented widely in a wide range of academic, policy and community fora and has been involved in a number of key gender equality policy reviews and debates. She continues to publish as highlighted below under publications. In 2024 Sara completed work for Public Services International producing a report on Decent Work and Quality Long-term Care with Profs Ian Cunningham (Strathclyde) and Tamara Daly (York) and a Literature Review on Work and Care with Prof Meg Smith (Western Sydney) for the Fair Work Commission’s Modern Awards Review 2023-2024.

Sara is deeply committed to collaborative practice and knowledge exchange. Sara was invited to the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit and presented on collective bargaining for low paid workers and on policy levers to progress gender equality. She has been an advisor to the Australian Human Rights Commission on their 2012, 2018 and 2022 National Sexual Harassment Prevalence Surveys. Sara was a member of the Victoria Police VEOHRC Review Academic Governance Board (2017-2020), following VEOHRC’s Review of Sexual Harassment and Predatory Behaviour at Victoria Police. In 2018 Sara was invited to be expert advisor to the Australian Workers’ Delegation on the Standard- Setting Committee on Violence & Harassment in the World of Work, 107th Session of the International Labour Conference.

Sara has been invited to present expert evidence to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety and to various state and federal Parliamentary committees, most recently to the Select Senate Committees on Job Security and on Work & Care. She has also presented expert evidence to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in the Aged Care Work Value Case and the just completed FWC gender-based undervaluation prioity awards review. 

Sara is a Thinker in Residence for HumanAbility, the Jobs and Skills Council for human services and other industries. She is on the Victorian government Equal Workplaces Advisory Council, co-convenor of the Work+Family Policy Roundtable, a network of Australian gender, work and care scholars and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Industrial Relations.

Field of media:
- Gender equality in employment
- Job quality & decent work
- Social care workforce
- Industrial and anti-discrimination law & practice
- Intersection of work & care

Dr Darshan Datar holds a PhD in Law from the University of Melbourne. He also holds degrees from the European University Institute, the Central European University, and O.P Jindal Global University. Dr Datar has also spent time as a World Comparative Law Visiting Scholar at Humboldt University and as a visiting fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. His research focuses on comparative constitutional law, constitutional theory, secularism, and human rights. Dr Datar’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the Australian Journal of Law and Religion, and World Comparative Law. Dr Datar’s current research projects are centred around freedom of thought, and the protection of cognitive liberty. Specifically, this project aims to determine how thought ought to be constitutionally protected in light of the proliferation of neurotech in therapeutic and criminal justice contexts. Dr Datar is a committed lecturer and primarily teaches in the field of administrative law, constitutional law, statutory interpretation and legal theory.

My research uses an economic geography lens to provide unique and valuable insights into the political economy of regional and urban development, housing and climate change adaptation. A focus of my research is the factors influencing the spatial redistribution of different forms of work, and the influence of social, material and environmental changes. My research has included qualitative and quantitative analysis, and multi-disciplinary collaborations.

I have conducted and contributed to projects on regional development and continue to publish on these issues, including the Australian Government's National Climate Risk Assessment, Evaluation of the National Urban Policy Programme of UN-Habitat, The Business Case for Social Housing as Infrastructure, Climate Resilience and Australian Festivals, and a range of projects regional population and economic dynamics.

Phoebe is a Lecturer at RMIT Law School. Her research and teaching interests are in media law, comparative and public law, and the regulation of the right to freedom of expression in the digital age. She has published her work in the Cambridge Law Journal, the Melbourne Journal of International Law, and the Media and Arts Law Review. Her forthcoming monograph with Hart Publishing focuses on the regulation of social media communication causing democratic harm from a comparative perspective.

Phoebe completed her LL.M and PhD at the Melbourne Law School. She has previously held positions as a Lecturer at the University of Western Australia (UWA) Law School, where she was Co-Convenor of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law (WA Chapter), and as an Assistant Editor of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) Blog.

Dr Harati is a Lecturer in the School of Management at RMIT University. His research examines how environmental, economic, and societal conditions shape human behaviour, culture, organisations, and adaptation. In particular, he studies how individuals, groups, and societies respond to adversity and constraint—including limited resources, environmental stress, economic disruption, and broader institutional and social pressures.

A central theme of his research is that constraints do more than simply limit people's choices: they can reshape how people think, behave, organise, and plan for the future. His work therefore examines both the adaptive and adverse consequences of adversity, asking when difficult conditions foster resilience, innovation, adaptation, and competitive advantage, and when they instead generate vulnerability, inequality, or broader societal costs. Ultimately, his research seeks to understand when, how, and for whom adversity changes behaviour and social outcomes, and how individuals, organisations, and societies can better adapt to difficult conditions.

Dr Harati adopts a multi-level and multi-method approach to examine these processes across individuals, organisations, communities, and societies. His research combines behavioural and field studies with archival, cross-national, and computational approaches and spans topics including resource scarcity, sustainability, culture, institutions, resilience, and organisational behaviour.

One stream of his research examines the behavioural and cultural consequences of environmental scarcity. Notably, one of his studies demonstrates how people living with limited water availability develop adaptive behaviours rooted in long-term orientation and self-restraint. This research has implications for addressing global sustainability challenges, including climate change, and has been recognised in the media for its contribution.

More broadly, Dr Harati's research investigates how environmental pressures, resource constraints, economic shocks, institutional conditions, and social barriers influence human behaviour and societal outcomes. Rather than treating adversity as uniformly beneficial or harmful, his research examines the conditions under which adversity generates adaptation and resilience versus vulnerability and societal harm.

Dr Harati's research has been published in academic outlets including Psychological Science. His contributions to sustainability research were recognised with the 2024 Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award. He has also presented his research at major international conferences, including the Academy of Management, Association for Psychological Science, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, British Academy of Management, Southern Management Association, and the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management.

Dr Harati's research has reached a broad audience beyond academia through outlets including Chicago Booth Review, the Association for Psychological Science and its podcast, MedicalXpress, Inside Water, Mirage News, YouTube, and LinkedIn. His research also went viral on X/Twitter, attracting more than 150,000 views.

He has further contributed to public understanding of behavioural and sustainability research through podcast appearances on Under the Cortex and through journalism and research commentary published in the Observer, affiliated with the Association for Psychological Science, and Scientific American.

Before joining RMIT University, Dr Harati worked for six years as an academic at the University of Queensland, where he received the Excellence Award in Innovation in Teaching and Learning. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a Senior Management Consultant, gaining practical experience across various aspects of business and organisational dynamics.

Dr Harati earned his PhD from the University of Queensland Business School in Australia, where he received the Best PhD Thesis Pitch Award.

Dr Mohammad Alamgir Hossain has received his PhD in Information Systems from Curtin University, Australia, with the Chancellor's commendation. Currently, he is working as an Associate Professor (Full Professor in the North American System) in Information Systems (IS) at the School of Accounting, Information Systems, and Supply Chain (SAISSC), RMIT University. Previously, he was a Vice Chancellor Postdoc Research Fellow at RMIT University. He is the seminar coordinator for the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics (DISBA) as well as leading the Digital Technologies theme of Business & Human Rights (BHRIGHT) Centre, RMIT University. Dr Hossain is also a Visiting Fellow, University of Wollongong.

Mohammad conducts research and publishes regularly in top-ranked journals. So far, he published more than 60 scholarly articles, including three A* and 25 A ranked journal articles (ABDC ranking). His overall research interest is the social, organisational, and individual acceptance and use of digital technologies. As a supervisor, he has four PhD completions. He received research grant of more $100K.

Recognition
• Dean’s Research Excellence Award for highest performing research, SAISSC, RMIT University (2020)
• Learning and Teaching Award for the Best Teaching Team, School of Business IT and Logistics, RMIT University (2018)
• RMIT College of Business (CoBL) nomination (2023) for Learning and Teaching (L&T) Impact Award
• RMIT College of Business (CoBL) nomination (2023) for Collaborations in L&T Award
• RMIT College of Business (CoBL) nomination (2023) for Research Excellence – Journal Publication by an Academic
• Best paper award in 15th IFIP WG 6.11 Conference on e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society, I3E 2016, Swansea, UK.
• Best paper award in IFIP WG 8.6 International Conference on Transfer and Diffusion of IT, TDIT 2013, Bangalore, India.

Dr Shahriar Kaisar is an accomplished researcher in data analytics, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. His research expertise includes developing advanced cyberthreat detection and mitigation strategies, utilizing state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tools to tackle complex business and health informatics challenges, and devising innovative solutions to facilitate seamless content sharing using advanced networking capabilities. To drive the adoption of artificial intelligence, his most recent study focused on generative and explainable AI in business decision making. Dr Kaisar is vastly experienced in human-centric data collection research involving large groups of people. His excellent work has featured in various prestigious international peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Dr. Kaisar earned his PhD from Monash University, Australia, and a research-based master's degree from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He has held various academic positions in Australia, Canada, and Bangladesh.

Associate Professor, RMIT Graduate School of Business & Law | Energy & Environmental Law Expert | Advancing Regulatory Pathways for Renewable Energy & Climate Resilience

Joona Keränen is a Professor (Marketing) in the School of Economics, Finance, and Marketing at RMIT University.

Joona is an internationally recognized expert on value-based selling and business-to-business (B2B) marketing, and he has received several national and international awards for research excellence. His research is focused on examining how organizations can understand, quantify, and communicate the value that they (co-)create with various societal stakeholders across diverse contexts, ranging from industrial buyer-seller relationships to circular economy, cleantech, social procurement, and healthcare.

Industry experience:
Dr. Keränen has extensive experience in collaborating with industry partners and leading several large-scale, international, and industry-engaged research projects. He serves as a senior advisor to selected B2B firms and is a frequent keynote speaker at corporate and industry events.

Awards:

2024 Award for Excellence in Research Supervision, College of Business & Law, RMIT University

2022 Award for Research Excellence (high-impact publication), College of Business & Law, RMIT University

2021 Best paper award in the Digital Transformation track in the R&D Management (RADMA) conference
2020 Research Excellence Award, College of Business & Law, RMIT University
2020 Research Excellence Award, Graduate School of Business & Law, RMIT University
2018 Best paper award in the business-to-business marketing track in the Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC)
2014 Teemu Aho Award for a high-quality dissertation from the Society for Viipuri, School of Economics, Finland

Dr Khan has been in academia for over 24 years. Dr Khan has extensive teaching experience, at undergraduate and post graduate levels. She has designed and co-ordinated multiple courses, relating to sustainability accounting and accountability. Her research experience is extensive. She has published in renowned internationally recogonised multidisciplinary journals. She engages with industry regularly around sustainabiity technologies including AI and data management. She has supervised multiple HDR projects to completion.

Dr Jonathan Kolieb is Director of RMIT's Business and Human Rights Centre, and Associate Professor in Law at the School of Law, RMIT University.

Jonathan’s research and teaching interests focus on global governance issues, including current projects on international conflict resolution, business and human rights, and the accountability of transnational corporations under international humanitarian law. His PhD dissertation was entitled: “Corporate Peacebuilding and the Law: Regulating the Private Sector for Conflict Transformation.”

His written work includes academic articles in leading Australian and international journals, UN peacekeeping training documents, and pieces in the mainstream press such as Newsweek, The Washington Post and The Australian newspapers. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the George Washington University Law School, and a Graduate Visitor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jonathan has held positions with the Government of Australia, various think-tanks and non-governmental organisations, focusing on human rights and international affairs. These roles include serving as Congressional Liaison Officer at the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC, and as Legal Consultant for the United Nation’s Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

Jonathan holds a PhD (Law) from University of Melbourne, an LL.M. (International Law) and an M.A. (International&Area Studies) from University of California, Berkeley and undergraduate Law and Politics degrees from the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

Jonathan has received several awards and grants in recognition of, and to advance, his scholarship. These include a RMIT College of Business Research Excellence Awards (2016 and 18), the A.O. Capell Prestigious PhD Scholarship from the University of Melbourne (2011-2015); a Rotary World Peace Fellowship (2004-06); a Human Rights Fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley (2007); and the Rufus Davis Memorial Prize for Politics from Monash University (2001).

For a full list of Jonathan's publications visit Google Scholar or Academia.edu.

Dr Jayanthi Kumarasiri is a Lecturer at the School of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain. She specialises in teaching financial accounting and management accounting at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her PhD is in the area of corporate carbon emissions management and strategies. 

Dr Kumarasiri has published in several prestigious academic journals, including the British Accounting Review, Accounting Auditing & Accountability, Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, and Meditari Accountancy Research, in addition to contributing media commentary for platforms such as The Conversation.

She served as an Academic Research Fellow with the Australian Accounting Standards Board from January to June 2026, leading research initiatives to inform the S2 Climate‑related Disclosure Standard and its practical application.

Dr Sharon Maleki Far is a Lecturer in Supply Chain and Logistics at RMIT University, with a continuous record of teaching and course coordination since 2016 across undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Australia and Vietnam. Teaching responsibilities span a broad portfolio of courses, including Supply Chain Technologies, Operations Management, Introduction to Logistics and Supply Chain, Retail and Service Logistics, Global Trade Operations, Supply Chain Technology Adoption, and Managing Business Operations.

Sharon has led significant curriculum development initiatives, most notably the design and refresh of Supply Chain Technologies and Supply Chain Technology Adoption, translating emerging industry trends into rigorous, practice-oriented learning experiences. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in blended learning, industry engagement, and authentic assessment, equipping students with work-ready skills for the evolving digital supply chain landscape.

Sharon's research interests centre on digital transformation, supply chain technologies, and innovation in organisations. Her scholarly contributions have appeared in leading international journals, including Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review and the Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity. In addition to active higher degree research supervision, Sharon contributes to the international academic community as a reviewer for several high-ranking journals and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Business and Innovation (ISSN 2309-0693).

Sharon holds a PhD in Supply Chain Management from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, an MBA, and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering. Professional credentials include Certified Professional Engineer (Industrial) with Engineers Australia (since 2016) and a Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching and Learning from RMIT University (2018), reflecting her dual commitment to engineering practice and scholarly pedagogy. Sharon's prior industry experience as an Industrial Engineer directly informs a practice-oriented approach to her teaching and research.

Sharon has undertaken a range of leadership and governance roles at RMIT University, including Program Manager for the undergraduate Supply Chain and Logistics program and Chair of the Workload Allocation Committee. Current service includes Academic Representative on the College Academic Governance Committee (CAGC) in the College of Business and Law (CoBL), member of the Early Career Academic Community of Practice (ECA-CoP), and the role of Sessional Academic Staff Coordinator in the Department of Supply Chain and Logistics.

Shelley Marshall is a Professor of Law, and Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation) of the School of Law at RMIT University. From 2020-2023 she was an Australian Research Council DECRA research fellow. Prior to that she was a Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University. She is a graduate in Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne, in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Regulation, Justice and Diplomacy at the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University.

Shelley's work spans Business and Human Rights and Labour Law, employing the analytical tools availed by degrees in three disciplines. She has two primary research interests in the field of labour law: (a) the regulation of informal work, (b) labour law in poor and middle income country contexts. She has conducted major research projects in each of these areas. Her multi-country project with the ILO and Professor Simon Deakin of Cambridge University examined labour law in developing countries, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council. She has undertaken empirical research into informal work in Bulgaria, India, Australia and Cambodia exploring ways that labour law can respond to different political economic conditions and ‘regulatory problems’. Shelley has repeatedly advised the International Labour Organisation, with her work cited at the highest governing body, influencing international labour market regulation.

Her books include 'Living Wage', 'Homeworking Women: A Gender Justice Perspective' and 'Varieties of Capitalism and Law, Corporate Governance and the Management of Labour: A Study of Australian Regulatory Style and Business Practice'. Shelley also co-edited: 'Corporate Governance and Employees', 'Fair Trade and Corporate Accountability: Experiments in Globalising Social Justice'. 

Thuy Nguyen is currently a senior lecturer at the School of Accounting, Information Systems & Supply Chains and the Research Theme Lead on Labour and Supply Chain at the RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre, RMIT University, Australia. She earned her Doctor of Science in Logistics Sciences from Kobe University (Japan) in 2009. Before RMIT, she worked as an academic, professional, and policy adviser in several countries. 
As an academic, she has published papers on issues in logistics and supply chains, particularly issues in information sharing, and the implemention of digital technologies in supply chains and businesses. She is also very interested in maritime transport and labor issues in global supply chains and the maritime industry. Her teaching courses at RMIT are maritime logistics, shipping business management, strategic supply chains, port and terminals management, and transportation and freight logistics. Before attending RMIT, she worked at the University of Liege (Belgium), the California State University (USA), the Center of Transportation Research (France), and Vietnam Maritime University. She has also been invited as a visiting lecturer and A/Prof to the National Incheon University, Sunchon National University (Korea), University of Nantes (France), The World Maritime University (Sweden), and the National Economics University (Vietnam), Etc. She has led and participated in many projects funded by the World Bank, JICA, UNDP Vietnam, the Vietnam government, EU Commission Funds, industries, etc. The total funding for projects she led as Primary Investigator and Package Leader is about US$3 million. 
As a policy adviser, she was the representative of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam, participating in several ASEAN and APEC meetings and workshops (Vietnam representative) from 2010 to 2015, discussing the strategies and activities to improve transport network, global supply chain resilience, and public partnership for APEC’s supply chain connectivity, as well as transport and logistics network issues and solutions for ASEAN, including maritime and road transport’s labor issues.
As a professional, she was the former Founder and Director of Japan-Mekong Logistics Training Center (Vietnam) and the former Regional Manager of supply chain and distribution at V&A Liangos (Australia).