BAM2024 Awards Ceremony

The British Academy of Management made a series of awards during our 38th Annual Conference at Nottingham Trent University, 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.
 

Richard Whipp Lifetime Achievement Award

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 Neal Ashkanasy FBAM, University of Queensland, Australia 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 William H.Starbuck 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.

Companionships

Four people were made Companions of BAM, 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.

The four are:

Professor Kevin Lowe, President of the Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM);

Professor Carmen Cabello Medina, Past President of ACEDE, our sister body in Spain;

Professor Xosé H. Vazquez, who has just recently taken over as President of ACEDE;

Fellowships

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 three Fellows to the College: 

Professor Stephanie Decker FBAM is Professor of Strategy and Deputy Dean the Birmingham Business School, and Co-Vice Chair of the BAM Research and Publications Sub-Committee; 

Professor Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki FBAM is Professor of International Business at the University of Vienna, Austria;

Professor Catherine Wang FBAM is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Brunel University London.

Medals

As part of our 30^th anniversary celebrations, we created a set of medal awards to provide public recognition for important contributions made by our members and others. Nominations are made by Council, Fellows and SIG Chairs and are reviewed by a committee. Five were given this year:

The Cooper Medal for Outstanding Leadership and Contribution was given to Professor Susan Vinnicombe CBE, Professor of Women and Leadership at Cranfield University.

Sue was nominated on account of her global recognition as a leading scholar and expert in gender studies, especially with regard to the important roles of women as faculty scholars and leaders in Business Schools, and for the distinctive work on Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Respect that she inspired and led within BAM during her term of office as Dean of the Fellows College.

The BAM Medal for Leadership was given to Professor Arabella Mocciaro Li Destri, Professor of Management at the University of Palermo for her sustained and outstanding leadership in her role as President of our sister organization in Italy - SIMA, and specifically for her pivotal role in connecting the BAM and SIMA communities, thereby making a significant contribution to the academic community of BAM members at an international scale.

The BAM Medal for Knowledge Development was awarded to Professor Mark Saunders, Professor of Business Research Methods at the University of Birmingham for his outstanding devotion to knowledge development especially in the field of research methods.

The award also recognises his frequent contribution over many years to BAM’s professional development work, most notably within our Doctoral Symposium as both facilitator and contributor, through our Education-Focused Professor Development Programme and our flagship Development Programme for Directors of Research (DPDOR), as well as through his work as Chair of our Special Interest Group for Research Methods.

The inaugural BAM Medal for Contribution by and Early Career Academic was given to three recipients this year: Dr Sahar Bakr, Nottingham Trent University, Dr Rebecca Beech, Oxford Brookes University and Dr Mollie Bryde-Evens, Liverpool John Moores University.

The medal recognises their work in building a network for early career academics within and across BAM. Each of them has also made a separate and significant contribution to BAM as members of SIG committees, and sub-committees of Council, amongst other activities.

The inaugural BAM Medal for Contribution to Communities recognises those who made significant contribution to the BAM Community, by, for example, supporting the SIGs and Networks.

The recipient of this award was Madeleine Barrows for her dedication to BAM‘s values and extraordinary leadership, love, kindness to the whole of the BAM community.

John G. Burgoyne Memorial Prize for Management Learning

This new prize has been created in memory of Professor John Burgoyne, a Fellow of BAM who sadly passed away last year and who left a significant academic legacy in advancing management learning. This award aims to celebrate those making a significant and sustained contribution to the field.

From a strong field of nominations, the judges unanimously agreed to award the inaugural John G Burgoyne Award for Management Learning to Professor Ann Cunliffe, Professor of Organisation Studies at FGV EAESP in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in recognition of her contribution to research and practice, which has shaped the field.

Education Practice Awards

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 Experienced Career category was Dr Gary Walpole and the Circular Economy Innovation Communities team, Swansea University for their Circular Economy Innovation Communities (CEIC) Programme.

The winner of the Early Career category was Dr Jennifer Davies, University of Liverpool for her project ‘Enabling Digital Adaptability through AI-Driven Campaign Creation in Business Education initiative.

Two entries in the Experienced Practitioner category were Highly Commended by the judging panel of business school Deans: Dr Anna Brown and Dr Benet Reid, University of St Andrews, UK for their initiative ‘Creativity in Context Enterprise Project’; and a team initiative from the University of Exeter, led by Dr Rachael Johnstone titled ‘Establishment of the Centre for Degree Partnerships - Co-creating curriculum with employers for degree apprentices, providing access and success for all’

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 for 2023 was Dr Renfai Gao, University of Manchester, and for our International Journal of Management Reviews was Dr Richard L. Gruner, University of Western Australia.

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 BAM2024 Conference can be accessed via our Flickr account.