Professor Tony Dobbins

• PhD Industrial Relations, University of Limerick, Ireland.
• MA Industrial Relations, University of Warwick.
• BA HRM & Business Administration, Keele University.
• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCertHE), Bangor University.

Tony is Professor of Employment Relations & HR Management in the Department of Management at Birmingham Business School. He is part of the Organisation, Work and Employment (OWE) group, and the employment relations, trade unions and employee voice research stream. He is also a member of the Workplace Inclusivity Research Centre (WIRC). Tony is Programme Director for the MSc HRM. He joined Birmingham Business School in May 2018, from Bangor University, where he was formerly Professor of Employment Studies. Tony has over twenty years’ employment relations experience as an academic, researcher, and journalist in the UK and Republic of Ireland, including eight years working for Industrial Relations News, Dublin.

Tony is Visiting Professor at Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Republic of Ireland; Visiting Professor at Centre for Labour Studies at University of Malta; President of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA); a former member of the Editorial Board of Work, Employment & Society (WES).

His research interests in the area of work and employment include: employee voice/industrial democracy; trade unions (workplace partnership, union recognition); the living wage/low pay; sociology of work, conflict and cooperation at work; employment and skills in regional labour markets. His research has been funded by several bodies (European Commission, Irish Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust). He has published in peer-reviewed academic journals such as British Journal of Industrial Relations, British Journal of Management, Human Relations, Human Resource Management Journal, Work Employment & Society.

Tony also engages in regular knowledge exchange and public engagement in various media, including: BBC, RTE, The Conversation, The Guardian, i newspaper, Huffington Post, Canada Globe and Mail, People Management. He also has external research experience and impact involving wider engagement with practitioners and policy-makers, through a range of employment relations projects with various organisations like the European Commission/European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Ireland’s National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO). 

Undergraduate Teaching:

• HRM (UG Major Minor and Accounting &Finance) (21656/03059)

Postgraduate Teaching:

• MSc HRM (HRM) (24273)

Tony is interested in supervising PhD students in the following research areas:

• Living wage/low pay;
• Employee voice/silence/industrial democracy at work;
• Trade unions (workplace partnership, union recognition);
• Worker-owned cooperatives;
• Sociology of work, conflict and cooperation;
• Employment and skills in labour markets;
• Regulation of employment;
• Comparative employment relations

Research interests

• Living wage/low pay;
• Employee voice/silence/industrial democracy at work;
• Trade unions (workplace partnership, union recognition);
• Worker-owned cooperatives;
• Sociology of work, conflict and cooperation;
• Employment and skills in labour markets;
• Regulation of employment;
• Comparative employment relations (notably the Republic of Ireland)

Tony’s research projects have been funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, ESRC, Irish Research Council, European Commission.

• President of British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA);
• Visiting Professor at Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Republic of Ireland;
• PhD external examiner at University of Western Australia, University of Manchester, Newcastle University, Keele University;
• External examiner for UG and PG taught programmes at Dublin City University and University of Limerick, Republic of Ireland;
• Grant assessor for British Academy/Leverhulme Trust;
• External assessor for academic promotion panels;
• Member of British Academy of Management (BAM), British Sociological Association (BSA), British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA), Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE);
• Affiliate of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD);
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy;
• Academic member of Research associate of MPOWER - Massey People, Organisation, Work and Employment Research hub, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand;
• Research associate of Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change, NUI Galway, Ireland.