Entrepreneurship & Family Business Research Centre

Our vision is to contribute to the knowledge of entrepreneurship and family business and use this for scholarship, research and enterprise purposes. We also aim to inform and develop the teaching of related undergraduate and postgraduate modules.

The Research Centre fits with the University’s mission ‘to develop internationally-aware, enterprising and employable graduates’ and reflects the fact that many of our students and alumni are strongly linked to family businesses internationally.

Our strategy is to publish, support teaching, aid continuous professional development for staff and generate income through research funding and enterprise initiatives. Activities include guest speakers, applications for research funding, bursaries for Doctorate/PhD students, pedagogy and support for related initiatives.

Our team

Director: Prof Simon O’Leary

Business & Management Faculty: Dr Eric ChanRobin DickinsonEd GonsalvesProfessor Jonathan Liu; Richard MeredithKaye NightingaleDr Jacob Schmidt; Professor Zubin SethnaAsh Snijder-MajumbderChris Swaffin-Smith.

Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty: Dr Orit GalDr Ana-Maria Pascal

Regent's Institute of Language & Culture: Robert Johnson

Professional Services: Julian ChildsMatthias Feist

Each member has an established academic profile in entrepreneurship and family business and promotes this through publications, conferences and other research, scholarship and enterprise initiatives. Each also has an international network of partners at academic and professional institutions around the world.

Additional external input has been sought and the following new members have also been added to the team.

  • Visiting Professor: Professor Wilson Ng (University of Roehampton, UK) for his expertise in entrepreneurship.
  • Visiting Researcher: Dr Fuencisla Martínez Lobato (Universitat de València, Spain) for her expertise in family business. 
  • Visiting Researcher: Dr Sussie Morrish (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) for her expertise in entrepreneurial marketing.
  • Visiting Professional Fellow: Mike Southon (The Beermat Entrepreneur) for his breadth of expertise and networks across enterprise.

After successfully publishing joint papers on entrepreneurship with the Research Centre Director, two further researchers have been welcomed to the team:

  • Dr Anabel Gutierrez, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing, Kent Business School at Medway, University of Kent, UK.
  • Dr Federica Carlotto, Course Leader, The Art of Luxury, Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, UK.

Also, following the Higher Education Panel on How Universities Foster Entrepreneurship at the Regent's International Partners' Conference 2018, four further additions were made:

  • Professor Michael H. Levenson, William B. Christian Professor of English, University of Virginia, USA.
  • Professor Dr Klaus Deimel, Director Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Medium Sized Companies, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
  • Dr Evaristo Doria, Institute of International Business, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, USA.
  • Dr Juan Freire, Academic and International Dean of the Business School of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico.