Dr Uracha Chatrakul Na Ayudhya

Overview

Biography

I joined Birkbeck in 2019 as Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Organizational Psychology, where I am the Programme Director of PG Cert and MSc Human Resource Management (HRM).

From September 2020, I became the Assistant Dean for Equalities and Diversity in the School of Business, Economics, and Informatics (BEI) and serve on the BEI Executive. In 2021, I became Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor).

I am a proud migrant with a proud Thai heritage. I was born and lived in Thailand and I have also lived in Indonesia, Australia, and Malaysia. I arrived in Manchester, UK, in 1998, to pursue my degrees in Psychology and Organizational Psychology. I moved to London to take up the post of Lecturer in HRM and Organizational Behaviour at Middlesex University and became Senior Lecturer in 2011.

I served as Co-Editor of the journal Work, Employment and Society in 2018 to 2021.

My research interests are:

• Unequal working lives and careers
• 'Diversity' and intersectionality at work
• Lived experience of marginalized and minoritized workers in the workplace
• Work-life balance (WLB) and transitions over the life course
• Assisted fertility and work
• 'Agile working' as a managerial agenda
• Qualitative methodologies

I'm currently working on three projects:

1. The intersection of assisted fertility and paid employment on the working lives of women and men
2. Evaluating the ‘agile working’ concept as a managerial agenda
3. Workers’ gendered and racialized experiences of doing ‘office housework’
   

Highlights

• Winner of the European Management Review Best Paper Award 2019:

  Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, U., Prouska, R., & Beauregard, T.A. (2019). The impact of global economic crisis and austerity on quality of working life and work-life balance: A capabilities perspective. European Management Review, 16(4), 847-862. (CABS 3, impact factor 1.6)

  Read the paper for free here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emre.12128

  
  

Office hours

I am currently operating virtual office hours. Please e-mail me for a time to meet.

Qualifications

• PhD Organisational Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2009
• MSc Organizational Psychology, UMIST (now The University of Manchester), 2002
• PG Cert in Higher Education, Middlesex University, 2010
• BSc (Hons) Psychology, The University of Manchester, 2001

Administrative responsibilities

• Assistant Dean, Equalities and Diversity (BEI)
• Programme Director, PG Cert and MSc HRM
• Chair of the Board of Examiners, MSc Organizational Psychology and MSc HRM University of London International Programmes
• Chair, School of BEI Equalities and Diversity Committee
• Member, PhD/Research Committee, Department of Organizational Psychology
• Member, College Equality and Diversity Committee
• Member, College Workload Allocation Working Group
• Member, College Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team
• Member, College Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team

Professional activities

2018-2021: Editor, Work, Employment and Society

2019-present: External Examiner (MSc HRM and Organisation), University of Nottingham

2019: External Examiner (PhD), University of Newcastle

2020-present: External Examiner (Organizational Behaviour), Cranfield University

2021: External Examiner (PhD), Queen's University Belfast

Professional memberships

• Academic MCIPD

• Member, British Sociological Association

• Fellow, Higher Education Academy

• Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society

Honours and awards

• Best Paper Award 2019, European Management Review, December 2020

ORCID

0000-0001-5144-3096

Research

Research interests

• 'Diversity' and intersectionality at work
• Unequal working lives and careers
• Lived experience of marginalized and minoritized workers in the workplace
• Work-life balance (WLB) and transitions over the life course
• Assisted fertility and work
• 'Agile working' as a managerial agenda
• Qualitative methodologies

Research overview

My research broadly focuses on unequal working lives and careers, with a particular focus on workers' lived experience at the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity. I draw on critical approaches to 'diversity', power, and agentic and structural inequalities at work.

I am currently working on three strands of research:

1. The body at work and workers' experiences of combining paid employment and assisted fertility treatment
2. Evaluating the ‘agile working’ agenda in UK organizations
3. Workers’ gendered and racialized lived experience of doing ‘domestic work’ in the professional space

I have previously conducted research projects on:

1. The work-life experiences and expectations of university leavers
2. Older workers' extended working lives
3. International students' positionality and lived experience as temporary migrants in the UK

I have received the following research funding:

• 2019: Co-Investigator, Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology Research Development Workshop (£1500), "Contemporary reproduction, work, and working life: Towards an agenda for research and practice"
• 2016: Funded participant, British Council Newton Researcher Links Scheme (£1000), "Advancing Maternity Protection in Malaysia: Meeting Social Welfare and Business Needs and Contributing to Economic Development"
• 2011-2014: Co-Investigator, ESRC/RGC (Hong Kong) Bilateral Award (£100,000, plus HK $350,000), "Age Diversity: Applying the Capabilities Approach to Career Development across the Life Course"
• 2011-2012: Funded participant, Early-Career Work-Family Scholars Program (US$1,000), Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN), USA
• 2010-2011: Lead Investigator, The Richard Benjamin Social and Occupational Research Trust (£10,000), "From Sense of ‘Entitlement’ to 'Disenchantment'? A Confrontation of Expectations of International Students and Policy Makers"
• 2009: Visiting Scholar Grant, The European Science Foundation TransEurope (€900)
• 2003-2006: Manchester Metropolitan University PhD Studentship

Research clusters and groups

• Qualitative Methods Research Group
• Diversity Research Group

Supervision and teaching

Supervision

Supervisions within Birkbeck:

5

I am unable to take on new PhD students in the academic year 2021-22. However, I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who would like to start in the academic year 2022-23 and who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest:

• Unequal working lives and careers
• 'Diversity' and intersectionality at work
• Lived experience of marginalized and minoritized workers in the workplace
• Work-life balance (WLB) and transitions over the life course
• Assisted fertility and work
• 'Agile working' as a managerial agenda
• Qualitative methodologies 

I have co-supervised and worked with the following doctoral students to completion:

1. Dr. Noshaba Batool - Thesis title: "Going the extra mile: what does it mean for the male and female university teachers of Pakistan?" (awarded 2014, Middlesex University)
2. Dr. Anna Borg - Thesis title: "A CIAR study in a male-dominated ICT company in Malta which looks at work-life issues through the masculine lens: A case of: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?" (awarded 2015, Middlesex University)

I am currently co-supervising the following doctoral students (in alphabetical order):

1. Nicola Bentham - Topic: "Re-examining organizational change and the role of the ideal worker – an intersectional approach to inclusivity in the UK not-for-profit sector"
2. Shanika Charles - Topic: "Black women leaders' lived experience of 'respect' in the organization"
3. Jessica Hobbs - Topic: "Exploring the mental wellbeing experiences of working fathers who took extended parental leave"
4. Meredith Scott Jones - Topic "Exploring the impact of diversity discourses on the knowledge production of employees"
5. Margaret Ochieng - Topic: "How have UK organisations dealt with organisational anti-racism following the death of George Floyd in May 2020?"
6. Jane Setten - Topic: "The changing role of public sector accountants in the UK"

Current doctoral researchers

• MARGARET OCHIENG

  Nature of supervision:

  Joint Principal Supervisor, Oct 2020 onwards

• MERRY SCOTT JONES

  Nature of supervision:

  Joint Principal Supervisor, Oct 2021 onwards

  Title of thesis:

  Exploring the impact of diversity discourses on the knowledge production of employees

  Description:

  A significant body of research constructs diversity as an evolving discourse. I am interested in exploring how individuals make sense of the diversity discourses they are exposed to, the impact of these on their professional lives and how knowledge about diversity is now being produced within the workplace.

• NICOLA BENTHAM

  Nature of supervision:

  Principal Supervisor, Oct 2020 onwards

Teaching

I teach on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Department of Organizational Psychology.

I am module convenor on the following modules:

• Selection and Assessment (MSc)
• Selection and Assessment for Medical Leadership (MSc)
• Workplace Health and Wellbeing (BSc) (Co-convene with Dr. David Gamblin)

I also guest lecture on the following modules:

• Research Methods (MSc)
• Professional Development and Learning (MSc)
• Global Human Resource and Diversity Management (MSc)
• Learning and Development (MSc)

My teaching adopts an applied and critical approach, where core topics are introduced and then debated in relation to issues of inequalities in work and unequal working lives and outcomes. I apply a range of teaching and learning methods to encourage students to examine how these topics and issues apply to their (working and personal) lives and worldviews.

Publications