Derin Kent

Dr. Derin Kent is Assistant Professor of Organization Studies at Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. His research explores how people work and thrive in extreme contexts, i.e., those that are physically or psychologically dangerous. To explore these topics, he has conducted research with storm chasing teams, seafaring crews, physicians responding to lethal viruses, and financial workers recovering from terrorist attacks, embedding as an ethnographer where possible.

Derin's research has been published in Organization Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, and Academy of Management Annals, and has appeared in Harvard Business Review and The Conversation, among other outlets. This research and the panels he has organized have been quoted in business media like Financial Times and Fast Company. He also co-organizes the Extreme Contexts Virtual Seminar Series, an international and interdisciplinary workshop series for the community of scholars of extreme contexts.

Prior to joining Warwick Business School, Derin was a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University, Finland. He earned his PhD in Management at Smith School of Business, Queen's University at Kingston, Canada.

Outside of academia, Derin is an outdoor enthusiast and a Group Leader (ER London) at the British Red Cross, responding to various emergencies ranging from gas explosions to state funerals.

Research Interests

• Ethnography; Extreme Contexts; Group Culture; Identity; Sensemaking; Socialization; Work Meaningfulness