Toma Pustelnikovaite

I have been working as Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Abertay University since September 2017. In June 2018, I completed my PhD in Management Studies at the University of St Andrews, with a doctoral thesis on the employment and inclusion of foreign-born academics in the UK. 

My current research projects are in the broad area of sociology of work and employment, and revolve around two themes: (1) diversity & inclusion, and (2) socially (ir)responsible human resource management. The first theme builds on my interdisciplinary doctoral work and analyses the working lives of highly-skilled migrant workers, as well as diversity in contemporary professions and organisations more generally. The second theme comprises a research project on leaveism/work-life balance, and a BAM-funded project on the quality of migrant workers' jobs.

Labour migration, higher education, diversity, knowledge work and workers, decent work, identity, sociology of work, professions and education

2019-2021: British Academy of Management

2018: British Council Researcher Links/Newton Fund

2017: British Sociological Association

2015: British Sociological Association; Teaching Development Fund (University of St Andrews)

2014: CAPOD GradSkills Research Innovation Grant, University of St Andrews

2013: CAPOD GradSkills Research Innovation Grant, University of St Andrews

2013 - 2016: University of St Andrews 600th Anniversary PhD Scholarship

2008 - 2011: Region of Lombardy, Italy, C.I.Di.S. undergraduate scholarship

I have been invited to present my research in a number of academic settings. These comprise research seminars at the University of Warwick, University of Exeter, Edinburgh Napier University and Heriot-Watt University, and special symposia at BAICE and SRHE international conferences.

I have also co-organised two BSA-funded postgraduate and early-career conferences, the first one on hidden normativity in consumer cultures and labour markets (University of St Andrews), and the second one on the application of critical realism in management and organisation studies (Newcastle University).

I regularly present my work at international conferences, such as International Labour Process Conference in Berlin, Sheffield and Vienna, BSA 'Work, Employment and Society' conference in Belfast, and 'Migration and urban transformations in Latin America and the United Kingdom in the 21st century' workshop in Brasilia.

Sharing research with the wider community is very important to me. Among my outreach activities are a public research seminar 'Us and them? Analysing the inclusion of foreign-born academics in British academia' at UCL's Centre for Global Higher Education (2019), and a public lecture 'Decisions, delusions, divisions: The working lives of migrant academics in British universities' at Kiev National Economic University in Ukraine (2018).

I have also written pieces for online magazines, such as Futures of Work.

At Abertay University, I am teaching and co-ordinating advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses on:

-change management;
-contemporary issues in business;
-international and comparative human resource management.

I also supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.

Teaching is an important part of my academic practice, and I am delighted to have been nominated for a student-led teaching award (for the most engaging module) in my first year as a lecturer. I have since given a number of guest lectures in the UK and abroad, for instance at the University of Exeter and Kiev National Economic University. I have also served as external examiner at Falmouth University's programme validation.

In 2019, I have completed a PGCert in Higher Education Teaching, and became Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

I have several administrative responsibilities at the School of Business, Law and Social Science. In addition to co-ordinating modules, I am the Programme Director for BA(Hons) Business and Human Resource Management programme, and member of the School's Research Ethics Committee. I also co-coordinate School's research seminar series.