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 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 regularly appears on BBC Radio Scotland discussing issues relating to work and employment. She has chaired a Panel on Working Life Challenges for the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) and has been external advisor for projects at Roskilde University Denmark and Ostfold University College, Norway. 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. Over the past year Abigail has provided evidence to the House of Lords and Senedd Cymru on Homeworking. Abigail is currently Principal Investigator on a UKRI/ESRC funded project looking at homeworking under COVID-19 measures (www.workingathome.org.uk).

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 (mainly ABS 3 and 4 rated) 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 Refereed Journal Articles

Terry, E., Marks, A., Dakessian, A., and Christopolous, D. ‘Digitalisation, dependent self-employment and emotional labour in the home-collected credit industry: The endurance of the (human) collection agent.’ Work, Employment and Society (Forthcoming ABS 4)

Skountridaki, L., Zschlomer, D., Marks, A., and Mallett, O. (2020) Organisational support for the work-life balance of home-based workers. Work-Life Balance Bulletin: A DOP Publication Volumne 4, No. 2. Winter 2020.

Mallett, O., Marks, A., and Skountriaki, L. (2020)  ‘Where does work belong anymore? The implications of intensive homebased working’. Gender in Management. Accepted 21^st July, 2020

Richards, J., Sang, K., Marks, A. and Gill, S. (2019). ’I’ve found it extremely draining: emotional labour and the lived experience of line managing neurodiversity.’ Personnel Review 48 (7), pp. 1903-1923

Wimalasema, L., and Marks, A. (2019) ‘Habitus and reflexivity in tandem? Insights from postcolonial Sri Lanka.’ Sociological Review, 64, 148-165. (ABS 3)

MacKenzie, R., and Marks, A. (2019). ‘Older workers and occupational identity in the telecommunications industry: Navigating employment transitions through the life course.’ Work, Employment and Society, 33(1), 39-55.  (ABS 4)

MacKenzie, R., Marks, A., and Morgan, K. (2017). ‘Occupational identity, technology and restructuring in the telecommunications sector: From ‘machines that sang’ to ‘plug and play’.’ Sociology, 51(4) (ABS 4)

 Marks, A., Chillas, S., Galloway, L., and Maclean, G. (2017). ‘Confusion and collectivism in the ICT sector: Is FLOSS the answer?’ Economic and Industrial Democracy, 1-22 (ABS

Sang, K., Richards, J., and Marks, A. (2016) ‘Gender and disability in male dominated occupations: a social relational mode’. Gender, Work and Organisation, 23(6), 567-581. (ABS 3)

Roslender, R., Marks, A., and Stevenson, J. (2015) ‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t: Conflicting perspectives on the virtues of accounting for people.’ Critical Perspectives on Accounting. 27, 43-55. (ABS 3)

Chillas, S., Marks, A., and Galloway, L. (2015) ‘Learning to Labour: an evaluation of internships and employability in the ICT sector.’ New Technology, Work and Employment, 30, 1, 1-15. (ABS 3)

Recent Edited Collections

Briken, K., Chillas, S., Krzywdzinski, M., and Marks, A. (2017). The Digital Workplace. How new technologies revolutionise work. London: Palgrave.

Recent Book Chapters

Marks, A. and Chillas, S. (2020). 'Labour process theory and Voice,' in A. Wilkinson, J. Donaghey , T. Dundon and R. Freeman (eds.). Handbook of research on Employee voice. (2^nd Edition) Edward Elgar.

Briken, K., Chillas, S., Krzywdzinski, M., and Marks, A. (2017). Introduction - The digital workplace. How new technologies revolutionise work.’ Palgrave.

Marks, A., Chillas, S., and Maclean, G. (2017). ‘Gender and the new digital workplace’ in Briken, K., Chillas, S., Krzywdzinski, M., and Marks, A. (eds.). The digital workplace. How new technologies revolutionise work. Palgrave.

Marks, A., and Maclean, G. (2015). ‘Managing people at work,’ in R. MacIntosh and K. O’Gorman (eds.). Introducing management in a global context, Goodfellow Publishers Ltd.

Recent Non-Academic Publications

Abigail Marks, Lila Skountridaki, Oliver Mallett and Danny Zchomler, Are we Zooming towards the future of work? The Conversation (2020)

Abigail Marks, Oliver Mallett and Lila Skountridaki, People are missing their daily commute in lockdown and here’s why. The Conversation (2020)

Abigail Marks & Mike Danson, Would Remaining in the EU Create 790,000 New UK Jobs? NEWSWEEK. (2016)

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

Selected Recent Research Income

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.

• Terry E, Marks A, Dakessian A, Christopoulos D. Digitalisation, dependent self-employment and emotional labour in the home-collected credit industry: The endurance of the (human) collection agent. Work, Employment and Society 2021. In Press.
• Skountridaki L, Zschomler D, Marks A, Mallett O. Organisational support for the work-life balance of home-based workers. Work-Life Balance Bulletin: A DOP Publication 2020, 4.