Meet our academics – Professor Jill Johnes

This edition of the ‘meet our academics’ blog feature is a special one as we say thank you and farewell to our Dean, Professor Jill Johnes. Jill will retire this month after working at Huddersfield Business School for the last eight years. Jill joined the School as a Professor in 2015, and she became Dean in 2016. Jill has therefore been at the helm for more than six years and has overseen the School’s many significant successes over that period. In this blog, you’ll get to read about Jill’s 35 years in academia, key milestones while working at Huddersfield Business School, her proudest moments at Huddersfield, and how she plans to spend her retirement.

How did your career in academia begin?

My career in academia was unexpected, beginning a little bit by accident if I’m honest. When I left school, I won an apprenticeship at British Aerospace (BAe). After working for the company for a year, I was given the opportunity to undertake an undergraduate degree in Maths and Economics at Lancaster University. I continued to work at BAe during the holidays throughout my degree and was guaranteed a well-paid job with good promotion prospects on graduation – it was a brilliant opportunity. However, I had thoroughly enjoyed my time at university and my tutor asked me if I had considered undertaking a PhD, so, after some thought, I decided to give up my job and return to university. My PhD was highly interdisciplinary with supervision straddling two departments – Economics and Operational Research – making it quite unusual at the time; and this has given me an interdisciplinary mindset throughout my career. While I initially thought I would go back into industry after completing my PhD, I didn’t! This was partly because I enjoyed academia (both teaching and research), and partly because I was tied to the Lancaster region for personal reasons and there were limited career opportunities there outside of academia.

What are the top three highlights from your time at Huddersfield Business School?

There have been so many highlights, from the School entering the subject rankings for the first time in 2017 and achieving a fantastic REF outcome in 2021 to graduating the first cohort of apprentices in November 2022, delivering so many successful postgraduate taught consultancy projects last summer (a record for us!), and launching the Kirklees Top 100, which has generated a wealth of business engagement. We also won an Athena Swan Bronze award and the Small Business Charter, launched Help to Grow, and had a successful AACSB visit! So, this is a really difficult question but if I had to choose my top three, it would have to be…

1. Small Business Charter

I think it’s particularly important that business schools really engage with external organisations to enhance the performance of all partners. I’ve been committed to growing our School’s links with businesses and organisations, and the School’s Advisory Board, chaired during my tenure by Dr Steven Michael, has always supported me in this mission. I was delighted when Professor Liz Towns-Andrews joined the School in 2021 and she took on the lead for the application for the Small Business Charter. When we were awarded the Charter for the maximum of five years, having achieved all 31 dimensions, I was incredibly proud. The outcome was in recognition of the work with businesses and organisations which colleagues undertake, and it allowed us to engage in further worthwhile work through our successful delivery of Help to Grow, led by Dr Nic Stenberg.

2. Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 outcome

Another key highlight was our brilliant 2021 REF outcome. We were ranked 37 out of 108 business schools for research power, and that put us above some highly prestigious universities (including Cambridge!) for Business Management studies. When I arrived at Huddersfield Business School in 2015, I was appointed Research Director, following on from Professor Stephen Swailes, who had led the School’s first REF submission in 2014. After I became Dean, Professor Stuart Roper undertook the responsibility for research as the new Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise, and he continued the culture change and research journey leading to the 2021 REF submission. The REF results are something all colleagues can be justifiably proud of. 

3. My academic achievements

I’m going to focus on my own achievement as an academic for my third highlight. Reflecting back to when I started in academia, I can honestly say that my career path has been anything but straightforward! In fact, it’s been a very zig zag journey! But the final years in academia at Huddersfield Business School have been a real highlight for me.

My first academic appointment was in 1988, and I had a series of temporary academic contracts (typical at that time), before being made permanent in 1991. I had three children within just over three years, and following this, I chose to go factional as I juggled work and childcare. In 1994, I took a career break for two years to raise the children, then in 1995 I was diagnosed with cancer, and this really changed my outlook: I focused much more on my real priorities – mainly family – and this has stayed with me over the years. So, after my career break, I decided to return on a (fractional) teaching only basis for around five years to balance my family commitments, health, and work. Returning to research (as well as teaching) after the break was challenging, but I am very committed to the belief that teaching and research are very much complementary activities, and I was eager to have a full portfolio of academic responsibilities again.

In 2011, I was proud to be awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in recognition of my teaching and learning achievements. My research took time to rebuild after the career interruptions, fractional contracts, and teaching-only commitments. I am, therefore, very proud to have been appointed Professor at Huddersfield Business School in 2015, and this appointment gave me the opportunity to take my research to greater heights. After starting at the School, I received many invitations to present as a keynote speaker (e.g. at the University of Barcelona, Maastricht University, University of Murcia, Centre for Higher Education Studies at University College London, Catholic University of Porto) to contribute to policy development (e.g. through membership of a working group on harnessing educational research overseen by The Royal Society and British Academy), and I’ve continued to publish well during my time here – albeit a little more slowly given the distractions of the Dean role! Thus, being at Huddersfield Business School opened exciting opportunities for me and I am proud of my research achievements here.

What would you like people to know about Huddersfield Business School?

This is a tough question… but overall, I’d like people to know about all the brilliant work we’re doing here at Huddersfield Business School! This is one of the main reasons I encourage our academics to participate in profile-raising opportunities like contributing articles to The Conversation and I’ve always supported and encouraged academics to present at conferences. The School’s marketing team also does a tremendous job of raising our profile on social media, and the new Boards around the School celebrate our many achievements. There’s so much great work that goes on in our School and I’m keen for the world outside of Huddersfield to know about it!

What will you miss most about Huddersfield Business School?

Well, I certainly won’t be losing contact with the School, but inevitably, contact will be different from how it is now. I’ll miss all the staff and the camaraderie from working here. I wish everyone (including the new Dean when appointed) all the best for the future, and I’m sure the School will continue to thrive in 2023 – and beyond.

If you'd like to learn more about Jill Johnes' work, please click here.