Dr Sarah Bloomfield

Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisational Learning

sarah.bloomfield@open.ac.uk

Biography

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisational Learning and the Qualification Lead for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) programme at The Open University. I joined the OU central academic team in 2021, having worked in Associate Lecturer and Practice Tutor roles for the University since 2009.

Previously, I held a Senior Lecturer role in Business and Management at Bath Spa University and currently serve as an external examiner at both Bath Spa and the University of Hertfordshire. I hold an ESRC-funded PhD and MRes from the University of Bath, where I remain a Visiting Research Fellow, and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Before entering academia, I built a successful career in the consumer goods industry. Highlights include launching household appliances, managing a sponsor’s presence at the Winter Olympics in Japan, and serving as UK Marketing Director for a major beauty brand.

Research Interests

My research explores the lived experience of work, with a focus on learning in, for, and through work. I pursue two complementary streams:

Organisational contradictions and their impact on leadership and behaviour.
Work-based learning as a pedagogical approach.

I also currently hold a British Academy Small Research Grant [SRG24\240061] with Dr Norah Almubarak (King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia) to investigate the lived experience of female angel investors in Saudi Arabia.

I use engaged, ethnographic methods and have published on this approach in organisational research.

Teaching and Community Engagement

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, I have taught business and management across all academic levels, with a focus on organisational behaviour, leadership, and work-based learning. I also co-convene the UVAC CMDA Knowledge Network and help lead the OU’s work-based learning community of practice.

Projects

Exploring the lived experience of female angel investors in the Saudi Arabian context

The research project explores female angel investing in Saudi Arabia. Despite economic and socio-cultural differences across the world, most research into female entrepreneurial activity has been conducted within a Western context. Our research addresses this gap through a focus on entrepreneurial action within an economically wealthy country with restrictive social and cultural practices. To guide our research, we are focusing on what constrains and enables the practices of female angel investing in the Saudi Arabian context. We are using an interpretive phenomenological approach based on qualitative data gained primarily through interviews and observations. We are focusing on the angel investors and the angel investing support network around them to provide a rich picture of how women in Saudi Arabia are drawn to invest, learn to invest, and invest, as well as the impact of angel investing networks on female angel investing in the context, and visa versa.