Nancy Harding

Research interests

My research always starts with asking: what is it like to be the person doing that job, in that way, at this time, in this place, and in these circumstances? This series of questions takes me into explorations of people’s working lives in general, how people become the people they are through their work, how they are limited by the detrimental effects of (broadly defined) hierarchies of control and how they flourish despite all the pressures put upon them. I use qualitative research methods and am wondering how to push forward the boundaries of what it is possible to do as a qualitative researcher. My current research includes: explorations of the Geek and the emergence of the Posthuman in software development (with Dr. Rana Tassabehji); autoethnographic accounts of embodiment and identities (with Dr. Sarah Gilmore and others); and the 21st century Crone (with Professor Jackie Ford and others). I am also writing a book that asks: what is ‘an organisation?’

Willing to supervise PhD

I welcome PhD applications from prospective students interested in any aspect of management and organisation studies that asks: what is it like to do that job, in that way, at this time, in this place, and in these circumstances? Students might be interested in posing these questions in order to solve an organisational problem. I am particularly interested in applicants interested in applying philosophical theory within their research. For example, I have supervised doctoral students who: have used post-colonial theory to understand the working lives of British-Asian young adults; applied the philosophical theory of Judith Butler to interpreting organisational change in the NHS; and psychoanalytical theory to explore the work of art therapists. My current doctoral students include someone using feminist theories to interrogate the absence of women from senior positions in Australia’s trade unions, and someone exploring how to combine visual research methods with story-telling approaches to explore the emotional work of human resource managers.