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Competency gaps in academic business consulting

The research phase of the project aims to investigate to what extent and in what capacity business school academics engage in consulting activities and to identify their consulting skill and competency gaps in acting as business consultants.

Upon concluding the research and identification of gaps, in the next phase of the project, the team will design and develop consulting training programmes for Business School academics at the first instance with a vision of rolling out the training to all academics in due course.

The benefits include encouraging primary research, contributing to business education theory and practice, but also finding innovative ways to disseminate best practices in delivering high quality education programmes.

This study aims to design applicable educational workshops for academics to encourage consultancy and external engagement. In addition in line with Brunel Business School's mission and goals, this study and the workshops aim to increase academics business engagements to become local champions through offering consulting.

Those will then translate into improving the quality of teaching and developing business leaders in the longer term.


Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Ms Dani Saghafi
Ms Dani Saghafi - Dani leads the BSc Accounting and Business Management programme. Specialising in Corporate Finance and Audit, she brings the heart of business to the lecture theatre through the Practitioners’ perspective, enriching the learning experience of MBA, PG, and UG students. Dani sits on the Standards Board and Governing Council of ACCA, one of the world’s leading professional bodies since 2021. She is also a member of the Technical Committee of ICAEW's Corporate Finance Faculty, contributing to policy development and responding to consultations by governments, regulators, and other professional bodies. She joined higher education in 2019 with 20 years of practical experience leading investigatory work in audit and cross-border transactions. Having worked in over 9 countries across Europe and the Middle East, Dani strives to use her cultural agility to build collegial networks and bridges between professional practice, regulators, and academic communities.

Related Research Group(s)

financial graphs

Accounting and Auditing - Investigating current issues in accounting that include financial reporting, assurance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and business models in large and small business entities


Partnering with confidence

Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.


Project last modified 10/03/2022