Award Winners Announced at the BAM2023 Conference
The British Academy of Management made a series of awards during our 37th annual conference at the University of Sussex, to celebrate outstanding contributions made by business and management scholars, not just through their research but also the important contributions to society they have made.
The Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award is given annually in memory of Professor Richard Whipp, an outstanding scholar in the field of business and management and former Chair of BAM, to recognise the course of a career within the Business and Management field.. This year it was given to two recipients: Professor Rick Delbridge FBAM, Cardiff University for his field-leading work on innovation and organizational learning in addition to his service to the community, including roles within BAM and the ESRC. It was also presented to Professor Nic Beech FBAM, Vice Chancellor of Middlesex University, to recognise his leadership roles within BAM and HE, both in the UK and internationally, as well as a significant contribution to the academic fields of identity, inclusivity, learning and change leadership, plus the unusually extensive reach of his work championing the field of EDIR and the progress that had followed as a result.
Companions of BAM are a way in which our community honours those who have provided leadership in management practice or thought, or development of the field and its diverse community. This year, we awarded a companionship to Richard Spencer, Director of Sustainability, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW), for driving the integration of sustainability in business and for the leadership given by the ICAEW to LGBT+ accountants.
We award Fellowships to recognise leading scholars in our community, who have a strong international profile of high-quality research and who have made a significant contribution to the wellbeing of BAM.
This year we welcomed seven new Fellows to the College: Carol Atkinson FBAM is Professor of Human Resource Management at Manch, and Fellow of the BAM Peer Review College; Ashley Braganza FBAM is Professor of Organisational Transformation, and Dean of Brunel Business School, and founding chair of the BAM Organisational Transformation Change and Development SIG; Graeme Currie FBAM is Professor of Public Management at Warwick Business School and current facilitator of the BAM Doctoral Symposium; Natasha Mauthner FBAM is the Professor of Social Science Methods at Newcastle University Business School and current facilitator of the BAM and Chartered ABS Development Programme for Directors of Research (DPDoR); Thanos Papadopoulos FBAM is Professor of Management at Kent Business School and current chair of the e-Business and e-Government SIG; Alison Pullen FBAM is Professor of Management and Organisation Studies at Macquarie University, Australia; and Ruth Sealy FBAM is Professor of Responsible Leadership and Director of Impact at the University of Exeter. 
As part of our 30th anniversary celebrations a few years ago, we created a number of Medals to mark important contributions made by our members and others. Nominations are made by Council, Fellows and SIG Chairs and are reviewed by a committee. Nine were given this year:
The Cooper Medal for Outstanding Leadership and Contribution was given to Professor Nic Beech, Vice Chancellor of Middlesex University for his outstanding leadership of BAM in stepping up when BAM’s future was in serious doubt, for putting BAM back on a sustainable financial footing, and for creating a modern and equitable organization, over a long and continuous period. The Awards Committee recognised that Nic had been ineligible for any awards during his long service leading BAM and made the exceptional decision to give him multiple awards, for which he had been nominated by separate individuals, at this first opportunity.
The BAM Medal for Leadership was given to Dr Stewart Johnstone, of the University of Strathclyde for his work developing and broadening the HRM SIG community, and for his contribution to the field of human resource management.
The inaugural BAM Medal for Equality, Diversity, Inclusivity and Respect (EDIR) was given to Professor Nic Beech, Vice Chancellor of Middlesex University, for his longstanding commitment to EDIR both within and beyond BAM, in particular in conceptualising and driving structural change within BAM to embed EDIR thought and practice in a sustainable manner.
The BAM Medal for Research was given to two recipients this year: Professor Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki, of the University of Vienna for her leading work in the field of international business, and to Professor Alison Pullen of Macquarie University, Australia for her outstanding contribution to the field of gender studies, for her leading work identity and gender in organisational contexts.
The BAM President’s Medal for Management Practice was given to Professor Dame Jane Dacre of University of College London, for her outstanding contribution to management policy and practice driving equality in the NHS.
The BAM Education Practice Award competition was established in 2016 to recognise individual and team initiatives that enhance management learning and education.
The winner of the Early Career category was Dr Tin Doan, of Northumbria University for his project ‘Diversity Champion: Poster and Postcard Competition’. Dr Martyn Bradley, University of Liverpool , was highly commended.
Two entries in the Experienced Practitioner category were Highly Commended by the judging panel of business school Deans: Dr Patrick McGurk and Dr Xue Zhou of Queen Mary University of London, for their project ‘Transforming the BSc Business Management programme through authentic learning and peer-led teaching and learning’, and Dr Erica Cargill from Robert Gordon University for her project ‘Meta-skills for a Meta-world: Using an e-portfolio based pedagogy to support work-integrated learning and meta-skills development’.
We established Best Reviewer awards to recognise outstanding service as a reviewer for our journals. The winner of the British Journal of Management Best Reviewer was Professor Yelin Zhang, and for our International Journal of Management Reviews, was Dr Frederick Dalhmann.
Most awards are considered by a specially convened Awards Committee following a process of nomination and its recommendations are ratified by the BAM Executive. Companionships are agreed by the Executive. Fellowships are considered by the Dean’s Group of the Fellows College. The Education Practice Awards is an open competition for BAM members, and entries are considered by a panel of Deans. The Best Reviewer awards are agreed by each journal’s editorial team.
All photos from the BAM2023 Conference can be accessed via our Flickr account.