Dr Sarah Bloomfield

Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisational Learning

sarah.bloomfield@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional 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. I am an external examiner at the University of Hertfordshire as well as at Bath Spa University where I worked previously as a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management. I gained my ESRC funded PhD and MRes at the University of Bath (where I maintain a role as a Visiting Research Fellow), and I have an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Before joining academia I had an extensive career in the consumer goods industry which included developing the launch of vacuum cleaners and washing machines; project managing a sponsor's on-site presence at the winter Olympic Games in Japan; and working as the UK Marketing Director of a major beauty brand.

Research interests

I am interested in the lived experience of work, with a particular focus on learning in, for and through work, recognising that each work situation is unique. This has led to two complementary research streams: one focused on work-based learning as a pedagogical approach; and the other related to how organisational contradictions are lived, and the impact those contradictions have on leadership, behaviour and organisations.

I hold a British Academy small research grant [SRG24\240061], alongside Dr Norah Almubarak from King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, for our research project investigating the lived experience of female angel investing in the Saudi Arabian context.

I use engaged methods of research, and have a published book chapter on employing an ethnographic methodology within organisational research.

I am a community organiser of the work-based learning community of practice at The Open University, as well as a co-convener of the UVAC CMDA knowledge network.

Teaching interests

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have extensive experience of teaching business and management studies across all academic levels, with a particular focus on organisational behaviour, leadership and work based learning.

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.