Mrs Elizabeth Moody

Professional biography

Liz is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and obtained her MBA from Strathclyde Graduate Business School.  She added postgraduate qualifications in marketing from the CIM, IDM and is a trained management coach and expert facilitator. Her undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Education and she has 25 years’ experience as a manager in the private sector, ed. ucation and voluntary organisations before joining the Open University as an academic in August 2014.

In her role as Senior Lecturer and then Director of Executive Education, Liz built on her experience in the design and delivery of corporate development programmes for diverse groups of learners across industries in the private, public and third sector.  She has a track record working with and within senior teams and boards to support strategy and performance development, facilitate strategic planning and change programmes. Liz has an excellent understanding of organisation and management having worked with organisations from financial services, charities, local and national government departments, regulatory bodies, hospitality, health care and others.

Research interests

Liz's background lends itself to developing networks and external engagement amongst employers and community groups seeking to make a difference through knowledge exchange.  As such her recent research interests are motivated by a desire to support leaders in communities, voluntary and other organisations to navigate the complexity of the 21st century.  Having participated in activities that support knowledge exchange, such as the inaugural "Leading Through Complexity" conference in September 2024, she is currently focused on the role of leaders in local voluntary groups providing support to people living in poverty. Specifically she is interested in the networks and relationships that leaders have in their communities and with referring agencies and other stakeholders in the support of vulnerable people in their community. 

Building on an interest in curiosity as a driver of work-based and lifelong learning, she has extended this to the scholarship around interdisciplinary approaches to leadership development. This is one approach that may increasingly be needed to find solutions to complex business challenges, and uncertainty.   

Teaching interests

Her experience of designing work-based learning spans workshops, short online CPD courses, leadership programmes, face to face lecturing and individual support interventions.  As an experienced facilitator her philosophy is to build competence and confidence through developing skills and knowledge to support individuals and organisations to reach their potential. 

Liz has contributed to the development of materials for several modules and is currently a module team chair on B208, Developing Your Leadership and a member of the module team for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship which aligns very well with her interest in work-based learning.

Impact and engagement

Liz  has developed a number of resources relating to entrepreneurship including a free Badged Online Course and open educational resources to support student entrepreneurship.  During her tenure as faculty Open Media Fellow she also provided academic input to a number of business related broadcast projects and supported the promotion of these at locally organised events.   She was a regular contributor to the Campaign for Learning judging entries to the Learning At Work entries of employers around the UK. 

She chaired the Leading Through Complexity conference hosted at the Open University in September 2024 and will be leading the organisation of the 2025 event.

External collaborations

As Director of Executive Education Liz has an extended network of employer and professional body contacts.  Working in partnership, co-creating learning and collaborations on commercial ventures is a key feature of her work.  Through the OU she has worked extensively with the civil service, several membership organisations, financial services companies and other organisations including being academic lead on projects to support the development of the world's first online Fintech course (with Innovate Finance), a MOOC on project management (with APM) and a series of professional development courses for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

International links

Many client organisations that Liz works with have an international presence.  A number of projects have involved staff based in several timezones (e.g. the British Council offices across Europe , Easter Europe, Western and  SE Asia, FCDO all over the world, and an independent private software company based around the USA, UK, Europe and India,  Projects have brought together learners from very different cultures.