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Profile

Professor Abigail Marks

Associate Dean Research and Professor of the Future of Work

Background

Abigail is currently the Associate Dean Research for Newcastle University Business School. Prior to her appointment at Newcastle University, Abigail was Associate Dean Business Engagement and Director of the DBA/DMan Programme at Stirling Management School. Abigail has also been the Director of Research at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University and Director of Doctoral Programmes. Abigail's first academic roles were at the University of Edinburgh (1995-1999), followed by the University of Strathclyde (1999-2002).


Abigail is currently the Consulting Editor for Work in the Global Economy and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Management Studies, Work, Employment and Society and the International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management. She currently sits on the editorial boards of New Technology, Work and Employment; Team Performance Management and Leadership, Education and Personality.


Abigail is regularly interviewed by the media as an expert on  issues relating to work and employment. She has chaired expert panels on Working Life Challenges for the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) and NordFisk. Abigail has also served as an external advisor for research projects based in Norway and Denmark. 


Abigail has served on the Expert Advisory Group to the Scottish Government on New Social Security Powers and was an advisor on the 2012 Scottish Government's Mental Health Strategy, she is currently a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Future of Work. Over the past year Abigail has provided evidence to the House of Lords and Senedd Cymru on Homeworking and the Four Day Week and has been involved in the Scottish Government's Digital Ethics Expert Group. Abigail has held several externally funded research grants including a recent UKRI/ESRC funded project looking at homeworking under COVID-19 measures (www.workingathome.org.uk). Abigail is a Research Fellow with the Institute of the Future of Work. 

Research

I have successfully attracted research income from both government and industry as well as frequently invitations to provide policy advice and evidence to both the UK, Welsh and Scottish Governments. I am currently the PI on a large ESRC funded project looking at homeworking responses to COVID-19. Has chaired research panels in the UK and overseas. Appears regularly on Scottish and English television and radio to comment on work issues. Research interests are concerned with the location of work, the construction of organisational, occupational, and class identity. Teamwork, skills development, work-life balance and the ICT sector have also been key themes. Recent research has evolved to develop a focus on data science, wellbeing at work (and in unemployment) and particularly the experience of work and benefits assessment for people with mental health conditions as well as a developing interest in financial exclusion. My research has been published in internationally recognised journals, edited collections, monographs, and book chapters. 


I have supervised eleven PhD students to completion including topics such as social class and the legal profession, the labour process of the music industry, distributed teams and the meaning of work in Post-Colonial Sri Lanka.

Research Activities from 2015


RECENT NON-ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

• Abigail Marks https://theconversation.com/why-the-four-day-week-is-not-the-solution-to-modern-work-stress-167721. The Conversation (47, 428 reads) 14th Sept, 2021

• Lila Skountridaki, Abigail Marks and Oliver Mallett. Does your hybrid dream match the reality? HR Magazine, July, 2021.

• Oliver Mallett, Abigail Marks, Danny Zschomler, Lila Skountridaki. Why we need to hear more voices on what work should look like post-COVID. https://www.ifow.org/news-articles/can-a-four-day-week-solve-the-woes-of-workers The Conversation (4, 104 reads) 3rd July, 2021

• Abigail Marks, Lila Skountridaki, Oliver Mallett and Danny Zschomler, Don’t say goodbye to zoom yet. The Conversation (8,404reads) 3 December 2020

• Abigail Marks, Oliver Mallett and Lila Skountridaki, People are missing their daily commute in lockdown and here’s why. The Conversation (35, 607 reads) 20th July, 2020

• Abigail Marks & Mike Danson, Would Remaining in the EU Create 790,000 New UK Jobs? NEWSWEEK 12 May 2016

• Abigail Marks, Sue Cowan, & Gavin Maclean. The stories that show how fit-for-work assessments are destroying lives. The Conversation (5,044 reads) 30 November, 2015


SAMPLE MEDIA ACTIVITIES

• 2023 – Guardian Newspaper, BBC Wales and Radio Scotland – Commentary on the Four-Day Week

• 2022 – Radio Four, One O’Clock Show – Commentary on strike action

• 2020 – Radio Berkshire, Radio Scotland, Marketplace, BBC World Service and Paper press Commentary on the 4-day week

• 2022 BBC Worklife ‘Is finding a new normal in the workplace impossible?’

• 2022 US Radio Station ‘Marketplace’ – ‘the future of the 4 day week’

• 2021 Featured on the front page of the G2 Section of the Guardian Newspaper discussing ;’the right to disconnect’

• 2021 Discussions in The Times, Guardian and BBC Worklife regarding homeworking and hybrid working as well as the four-day week (2017 – Present)

• Various Topics – Regular Appearances on Kaye Adams Show, BBC Scotland, BBC Scotland News, Radio Kent, and BBC Drive Time. Work discussed in the Times and the Financial Times (2017 – Present)

• Brainwaves – BBC Radio Scotland (Oct 2018)

• Fit for Work Tests Causing Permanent Damage to Claimants – RTNews (March 2017)

• The Damage that the Work Capability Assessment Can Cause for People with a Mental Health Condition – STV News (Feb 2017)

• Career Progression of Head Teachers – Occasional Appearances on Newsnight Scotland and Scotland Today (2008)

• Identity at Work – Interview for ‘The Edge’, Magazine of the Institute of Leadership and Management (2008)


POLICY ADVISORY ACTIVITIES and EVIDENCE

• 2022 +Member of House of Commons All Party Parliamentary Group on the Future of Work

• July 2022 – Oral evidence on the Four-day week to The Welsh Parliament’s Petitions Committee 

• Evidence to the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe hearing on the Future of Work, 17/03/2022

• Member of Expert Advisory Group to Scottish Government on New Social Security Powers (2016 – 2020)

• Contribution to the Scottish Digital Ethics Compendium (2021)

• Oral evidence to The Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee inquiry into the Welsh Government’s proposal on remote working – 27th January 2021

• Oral and written evidence to House of Lords – COVID 19 committee enquiry about increased digitalisation and wellbeing. https://committees.parliament.uk/event/3473/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session (2021)

• Contribution to POST Horizon Scanning Report – House of Commons (2021)

• The Scottish Parliament Corporate Board – COVID-19 Framework Expert (2020)

• External Member of The University of the West of Scotland Institutional-Led Review of its MBA/DBA Programs (2018)

• Dissemination Event – Mental Health and Unemployment in Scotland – Understanding the Impact of Welfare Reform in Scotland for People with Mental Health Problems, The Hub, Edinburgh (Feb 2017)

• Advisor to Fife Council on Attendance Interventions (Dec 2016)

• Expert Evidence to Social Security Committee, Scottish Government (Nov 2016)

• Specialist Advisor for ‘The Point’, film written by Jasper Warry and funded by Ffilm Cymru Wales (2016 – 2017)

• Report to House of Commons on Neurodiversity and Employment: http://www.tssa.org.uk/en/whats-new/news/index.cfm/neurodiversity-report (Dec 2012)

• Press Launch, SAMH Report on Mental Health in the Workplace: http://www.samh.org.uk/media/217314/what_works_-_dismissed_report_-_executive_summary_-_final.pdf (2012)

• Advisor to Scottish Government on Mental Health Strategy (2012)



 

Teaching

I am an innovative teacher who introduces contemporary debates and research as part of the learning process for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. I adopt a multi-disciplinary perspective to teaching, incorporating insights from business, sociology and critical theory. These techniques encourage students to engage with the research process throughout their degree and helps them develop analytical tools in advance of students undertaking research projects.


Over the past few years my teaching has focused on delivery of postgraduate research methods at MRes and doctoral level, both PhD and DBA. I have extensive experience teaching taught postgraduate degrees, MBAs and all level of undergraduates. Courses taught include Organisational Behaviour, Managing Diversity, Strategic Human Resource Management, and the Sociology of Work.

I have accumulated considerable international experience, not only in terms of teaching overseas, several visiting professorships and numerous research partnerships with peers, but also at the organisational level, developing prestigious partnerships with overseas institutions at doctoral level. Specifically, for previous employers I have created successful and profitable partnerships with German universities at DBA level and developed a partnership for a new Doctor of Management Degree (DMan) with a premier university in China. I have a strong track record in developing and creating financially and academically successful taught doctoral programmes.

Publications