Participants 2021

Meet our amazing participants.

Headshot of Carlin Auschra wearing a black top standing in front ofa grey background
Carolin Auschra

Postdoctoral Student, Department of Management, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)

Dr. Carolin Auschra is a postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. She is interested in research topics such as organizing health care, methods of literature reviewing, and the work experiences of people with autism.

head shot of Ann-Sophie Baeken wearing a red top standing in front of a br with lots of bottles on glass shelves
Ann-Sophie Baeken

PhD student, Faculty of Business and Economics, KU Leuven (Belgium)

Ann-Sophie Baeken is a PhD researcher at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the KU Leuven in Belgium. After working for four years on diversity policy and equal opportunities in the government, she decided to explore diversity in the labor market from a scientific point of view. Her research focuses on the potential additional labor force with a disability and what ableism means for transitions in the labor market.

head shot of Jana Bauer wearing a black top standing in front ofa grey background
Jana Bauer

Postdoc, Chair of Labor and Vocational Rehabilitation, University of Cologne (Germany)

My name is Jana Bauer and I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Labor and Vocational Rehabilitation at the University of Cologne. In my Ph.D. thesis (in Psychology) I investigated the role of personal resources for student teachers‘ mental strain and health. The overarching theme that connects my Ph.D. project with the research projects that I currently manage is my interest in (personal and environmental) enabling factors and resources. The project “PROMI – promoting inclusive doctoral studies” focuses on hindering and enabling factors for inclusive doctoral studies from the perspectives of different stakeholders. In 2017, the project has been recognized with the Zero Award for Innovative Practice. In the project “To tell or not to tell? Working with chronic health conditions” we are developing a self-test to empower employees with chronic conditions or disabilities in the decision-making process of whether or not to disclose their condition at work.

headshot of Rohan Crawley at a slight angle. He is wearing a suit.
Rohan Crawley

PhD Student, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Bloomington (USA)

Rohan is a military veteran, volunteer firefighter, mentor and student. Much of his research revolves around interpersonal relationships and unlocking potential of diverse and underrepresented employees. He is working towards a PhD in Organizational Behavior with an interest in leadership, organizational culture and a particular focus in workplace incivility (framed as modern discrimination) and research methods. 

head shot of Julia Daniels wearing a colourful scarf  in front of a white background
Julia Nahal Daniels

PhD student, School of Education, University of Sheffield (UK)

KMy name is Julia Daniels. I was recently awarded with a PhD and am now struggling to find a job in the academy or elsewhere. I’m married with two beautiful children, and I have what I would consider to be a non-apparent disability. 20 years ago I was involved in a road traffic accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury and a punctured lung, and I have some cognitive issues and my right hand doesn’t work. I see these experiences as a personal advantage; unfortunately society does not. 

head shot of Nilo Coradini de Freitas in front of a blurred background
Nilo Coradini de Freitas 

PhD Student, Grenoble École de Management (France)



Nilo
is a first year PhD student. He holds a Bachelor (2015) and a Master of Science (2019) degree in Administration, both with emphasis in Organization Studies, and from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil, and has experience with horizontally-managed cooperatives. Nilo researches technology, environmental issues and post-development, understanding alternative organizing as a transversal issue inflicting in each topic.

headshot of Kim Fernandes. Their face is at a slight angle. They are wearing a blue top.
Kim Fernandes

PhD Student, Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development (Graduate School of Education) and Anthropology (School of Arts and Sciences), University of Pennsylvania (USA)

Kim Fernandes is a PhD candidate in Education and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. They have worked in the fields of education and development for close to a decade. Kim has experience teaching K-12 students and young adults, teacher training, curriculum development and monitoring and evaluation. They have masters degrees in Statistics and Measurement from the University of Pennsylvania and International Education Policy from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Their dissertation project is focused on assistive technologies, documentation, childhood and the measurement of disability in India.

Head shot of Amanda Hancoc wearing a golden pokedot top and black blazer in front of a white background
Amanda J. Hancock,

PhD Student, Faculty of Business Administration, Memorial University (Canada)

Amanda Hancock is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University of NL where she is supervised by Dr. Kara Arnold. With a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Queen’s University) and a Master’s of Science in Medicine, Applied Health Services Research (Memorial University), Amanda is combining her research interests and professional experiences to pursue research questions that are meaningful to her in the areas of leadership, well-being, and diversity and inclusion. To fulfill the requirements for her doctoral degree in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management, Amanda’s dissertation research examined employee perceptions of leaders who voluntarily disclose invisible identities, including mental illness and other concealable disabilities. Amanda’s research has been published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Managerial Psychology, and the Academy of Management Proceedings, and been presented at international conferences including AOM, ASAC, EURAM, EAWOP, and Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). s

Headshot of J. Matt Hughey wearing a jumper over a buttoned up shirt in front of a grey background
J. Matt Hughey

PhD Student, David Eccles School of Business; Department of Management, University of Utah (USA)

Matt Hughey is a PhD student at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah studying, in no small part, the intersection of entrepreneurship and disability research. His other research interests include judgment and decision making, ethics, identity, and the convergence of those topics. Before returning to grad school, Matt served as an Air Force pilot, a structural firefighter, and the founder of a non-profit organization. He earned an MBA from the University of Utah in 2018 and a BA in political science from the University of Notre Dame in 2007.

Headshot of Atul Jaiswell, in front of blurred greenery background
Atul Jaiswal

Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Optometry, University of MOntreal (canada)

Dr. Atul Jaiswal is a CIHR post-doctoral fellow in vision science at the School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Canada. The goal of his scholarship is to advance the knowledge in the field of combined vision and hearing impairment [referred to as dual sensory impairment (DSI) or deafblindness] and generate evidence to inform global health and rehabilitation care practice. His postdoc work aims to explore ways how to prepare the Canadian healthcare system to meet the needs of older adults with DSI by addressing the barriers to health services and health information during and post COVID-19. He obtained his Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science from Queen’s University, where his thesis focused on identifying ways to enhance the social participation of individuals with DSI in India. He is a trained occupational therapist and a rehabilitation social worker with experience of more than ten years in the field of disability rehabilitation.

Upper-body Shot of Lisa Jones Christensan wearing a blue jacket and a yellow top. She stands in front of blurred outdoor background
Lisa Jones Christensen

Assistant Professor, Marriott School of Business, Brigham Young University (USA)

My name is Lisa Jones Christensen and I am a human capital scholar focused on multi-level factors that increase resilience and thriving. My Ph.D. training is in micro Organizational Behavior, but the bulk of my experience and research focuses on strategy and entrepreneurship in the context of poverty and exclusion. I spent a decade conducting research in BoP contexts, emphasizing different aspects of well-being beyond merely the financial. More recently, I focus my attention on local issues of vulnerability and exclusion, and study refugees, immigrants, the formerly incarcerated, and excluded female entrepreneurs to understand more about what is adaptive and generative in relation to their experience and entrepreneurial outcomes. I received my bachelors from UC Berkeley, my M.A.in International Development and MBA from Brigham Young University (BYU). and my PhD from Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill. I currently am an assistant professor at BYU in the Management Department.

Head shot of IveKlinksiek wearing a black top standing in front ofa  grey background at a slight angle
Ive D. Klinksiek

PhD student, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations (LouRIM), Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)

Ive D. Klinksiek is a PhD student in Human Resources Management at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium). She is currently studying how people with disabilities are affected by the ‘new ways of working’ (NWW). Her research interests broadly lie on disability at work, diversity, and workplace flexibility.

head shot of Vera Kubenz standing in front of a blurred building background
Vera Kubenz

Research Fellow, School of Education, University of Birmingham (UK)

Vera Kubenz is a Research Fellow within the School of Education. Her main research interests are disability studies, gender and queer studies, and media and cultural studies. She employs quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how both lived experience and media discourses influence how marginalised people construct their identities. She has recently returned to research after working in research management for six years, and is currently working on a project investigating the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), with the aim to produce an analytical framework for the UN Partnership for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for a disability-inclusive recovery. She has also been active as a disability activist over the last decade, particularly in the trade union movement.

headshot of Terry-Lynn Langdon wearing a black top and a colourful scarf, standing in front of a grey brick wall
Terri-Lynn Langdon

PhD student, Social Justice and Education, University of Toronto (Canada)

Terri-Lynn Langdon is a feminist, disability studies and health equity scholar in Social Justice Education at The the University of Toronto. She has over 11 years of experience in the Social work field. Terri-Lynn is passionate about helping people to achieve the best possible health and a meaning-making life. She can assist service-users to figure out how best to address their own challenges and be their authentic selves. She is the mother of a toddler.

head shot of Danielle Lorzen, the photo is taking from a below angle looking up at Daneille. The background is blue with white clouds
Danielle Lorenz

PhD student, Educational Policy Studies, University of Alberta (Canada)

Danielle is a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. Her dissertation research focuses on the impacts of settler colonialism in Alberta’s K-12 education system. Danielle is also the Knowledge Mobilization Editor of the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. 

head shot of Christine Mihelcic wearing a red jacket. She stands at a slight angle in front of a blue background
Christine Mihelcic

PhD student, Management & Organizations Department,, Smeal College of Business,, Penn State (USA)

Christine Mihelcic is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate at Penn State. Her research interests include: stigma, diversity, disability inclusion, and social entrepreneurship. Specifically, her dissertation explores social entrepreneurs’ “lived expertise”, which she defines as skills or advantages that stem from a lived experience with disability. Before entering academia, Christine worked as a therapeutic day treatment (TDT) counselor and policy analyst, focusing on mental health reform. 

upper body shot of Huda Masood wearing a black top in front of a window
Huda Masood

PhD student, School of Human Resources, York University (Canada)

Huda Masood is a Ph.D. candidate at York University, Toronto. Huda is broadly interested in leadership and job crafting scholarship. Her empirical research focuses on the impact of managerial job demands on individual personal and professional wellbeing.

headshot of Dr. K. Kathleen O’Neil
Kate O’Neill

Associate Professor, American University of Afghanistan (Afghanistan)

Dr. K. Kathleen O’Neill is an Associate Professor of Management at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. Dr. O’Neill has diverse industry, NGO, and government experience in the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, the USA, Argentina, Japan, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Kiribati (Central Pacific). She is a specialist in strategic leadership and decision-making, change, and maximizing team productivity. Her research interests include culturally implicit leadership theories and topics impacting employee engagement. She previously served on the faculties of Mount Mercy University (USA), Zayed University (UAE), and the University of Alaska (USA). Dr. O’Neill holds membership in the International Leadership Association, The Academy of Management, and the American Psychological Association.

head shot of Jan-Philipp Reinecke waring a black and white top. He stands at an angle. You can see a table in the background
Jan-Philipp Reineke

PhD student, Team Strategy, Collective Action, and Technology, Grenoble Ecole de Management (France)

Jan is a PhD student with the Strategy, Collective Action, and Technology research team at Grenoble École de Management. Previously, they obtained a BA in Political Science from LUISS Guido Carli, and an MSc in Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Society from the University of Twente. Their research interests lie in critical disability studies, feminist philosophy, and science and technology. Their research focuses on the interplay between assistive technology, medicalization, and disability.

head shot of Anna Rafela Rudolf waring a white top and a white scarf standing in front of a white background
Anna Rafaela Rudolf

Phd Student, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Hamburg (Germany)

Anna Rafaela Rudolf is a researcher and Ph.D. student at the University of Hamburg (Germany). Her research focus is on the intersection of sustainability, organization, and corporate finance. She has a particular interest in research on autism in the workplace. Before joining academia, she worked as an industry consultant in digitization and organization. During her academic studies, she gained international experience at the National Chengchi University (Taiwan) and was a research scholar at Syracuse University (United States).

head shot of Gokul S wearing business attire in front of a white background
Gokul S

PhD student, English Literature, The English and Foreign Languages University,(EFLU) Hyderabad (India)

Gokul S is an Doctoral candidate in the Department of English Literature, The English & Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He is also Senior academic editor of New literaria, an international journal for interdisciplinary studies in Humanties. For his doctoral study, he is pursuing research on disability studies in specific to the “Indian disabled women life narratives.” His areas of interest are disability and gender, representation of disabled and social policy. He has presented and published research papers in reputed journals at both national and international level.

Head shot of Dan Somash wearing a black top standing in front of a tree
Dan Samosh

Post-doc, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto (Canada)

Dr. Dan Samosh is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto and the Institute for Work and Health. He received his PhD in Organizational Behaviour from Queen’s University in 2019. Dan uses qualitative and quantitative methods to explore research questions on the career advancement, leadership, and workplace inclusion of persons with disabilities.

Head shot of Anita Starzyk wearing a pink scarf and standing in front ofa  black background
Anita Starzyk

Assistant Professor, People and Organizations, NEOMA Business School (France)

Dr. Anita Starzyk joined NEOMA Business School (Rouen Campus) as Assistant Professor at the Department of People and Organizations in September 2018. Previously, she worked as Research Assistant at the University of Mannheim and the University of Konstanz (both Germany). She was also Visiting Fellow under the Lim Kim San Fellowship in Leadership at the Singapore Management University. Anita uses qualitative interviews as well as daily and longitudinal surveys to study employees’ and managers’ change-oriented voice and actions in organizations in order to contribute to healthier, more inclusive, and sustainable workplaces and societies. Anita has published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, and Journal of Vocational Behavior. She received several research grants, amongst others Start-up Funding from the University of Mannheim, a State Graduate Scholarship from the State of Baden-Württemberg, and Network & Exchange (NetEx) Funds from the University of Cologne (all Germany). 

head shot of Thomas Tammen standing in front ofa grassy hill wring a blue jumper
Thomas Tammen

PhD student, Department of Socioeconomics, University of Hamburg (germany)

My name is Thomas Tammen and I am a researcher and Ph.D. student at the University of Hamburg (Germany), currently focusing on disclosure, mergers, and sustainability. I was confronted with disability already at the age of two when my brother was born, who has been wheelchair-bound since birth. To spend more time with him, I started playing wheelchair basketball and experienced first-hand how sports like wheelchair basketball are a vehicle to enable people with a disability. A few years after this, I started to develop my research interest initially with a focus on sustainability. Currently, however, due to my personal experience of disability, I wish to return to these roots and engage in research about empowering people with disabilities. 

Headshot of Sebastian Thiemann in front of a 19th century building with orange -white brickwork
Sebastian A. Tideman

Lecturer, School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway University of London (UK)

Dr. Sebastian A. Tideman is a lecturer in accounting at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research focuses on the analysis of non- and semi-structured disclosures at the intersection of financial accounting, gender, and ESG and usually takes an interdisciplinary approach. Most of his projects involve textual analysis (e.g., of earnings conference calls and corporate sustainability reports) building on theories from journalism, political science, and psychology research. His latest research project is on the accessibility of corporate websites for people with disabilities. Before joining Royal Holloway, Sebastian was a postdoctoral researcher at the universities of Oldenburg and Hamburg (both Germany) and a visiting researcher at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (Georgia), Kyiv National University of Trade & Economics (Ukraine), Macau University of Science and Technology (Macau/China), Telavi Iakob Gogebashvili State University (Georgia), Grigol Robakidze University (Tbilisi, Georgia), Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), the University of Luxembourg, and Syracuse University (USA).

head shot of Tarun Kumar Vashisth wearing formal business satire in front of a white background
Tarun Kumar Vashisth

PhD student, Human Resource Management, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (India)

I’m currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Human Resource Management from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India, arguably the best place for management studies in India. What makes me joyous is that I am the first-ever disabled candidate to get selected in the Ph.D. program at IIM, Ahmedabad. It holds a special place in my life, for I set a record after all. During my Ph.D. course work, I, along with one of my professors, have published a case study “Samardha Infotech: A Specially Abled Organization” with IIMA Case Centre. I’ve completed my course work and have just entered the thesis writing stage.
I am an Assistant Professor in Human Resource Management at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. Currently, I’m on Study Leave to pursue my Ph.D. I’m a science graduate and have earned my Masters in Business Administration from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. 



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