Business and community

David is Director of Business Engagement in the Faculty of Management Law and Social Sciences and is leading on the development of the School of Management's programme and portfolio in respect of small business and entrepreneurship. As of March 2020, he became the Interim Director of Digital Learning, supporting the development of the Faculty's distance learning programmes and students. David has over 20 years experience in higher education and returned to Bradford (where he began his academic career) at the start of the 2019/20 academic year, having previously led the Business School at the University of Salford.

David is a member of the People, Organisations and Entrepreneurship research cluster, and his research interests include organisational learning, change and leadership and he has undertaken research and consultancy and delivered executive education in both SMEs and with large corporate firms. He currently teaches on both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes within the School of Management.

Rachel Sammut joined the School of Management in September 2021 as a Lecturer in Marketing and BSc Marketing Programme Lead. Prior to joining the University of Bradford, she spent nearly a decade serving as a Marketing Consultant for leading Digital Marketing agencies across the UK and Canada. Given this experience, her teaching approach is very learner-centric and focuses on the benefits of practical application within learning.

Rachel currently holds a Master of Business Administration and BA(Hons) in Business and Marketing Management from the University of Gloucestershire, along with an Advanced Diploma in Business Administration and Marketing (Brand Management Specialization) from Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Canada. She is currently completing her PhD at the University of Bradford, focusing on the impact of voice-controlled smart assistants on consumer behaviour. Her research and teaching interests primarily revolve around digital marketing, consumer behaviour, and artificial intelligence.

Gokcay Balci is currently working as Assist Prof in Logistics and Supply Chain. Previously, he worked as a senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield between July 2019 and January 2023. Gokcay also worked as a research assistant in Turkey between 2014-2019. Before joining the academia, he worked in the industry as a ship agent and the export manager of a food supplier company. His research focuses on digitalisation, marketing, resilience, and decarbonisation domains in the logistics and supply chain management subject. His research has been published in high tier journals such as Transportation Research Part E, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Computers in Industry, and IJPDLM. He has received a research funding (British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant) in the subject of “Freight transport resilience in the UK in the post-COVID-19 and post-BREXIT era”. He is a chartered member of CILT and the Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Kyle joined the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences as a Business Support Administrator in April, 2022. Kyle is an alumnus of the University having studied from 2014 to 2018 graduating with degrees in both BSc Business Computing and LLM International Legal Studies.

In 2023, Kyle moved into a new role as Events Communications Coordinator for the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences.

Since graduating in 2018, Kyle has experience working in both Financial Services and Hospitality & Events. Whilst studying at the University, Kyle gained experience working for local businesses including Bradford Theatres before working as an Events Supervisor for the International Convention Centre after graduating. Kyle then worked in Audit for PwC from 2019 to 2021 gaining an insight into financial operations and studying the Certificate of Finance & Business.

As a Business Support Administrator, Kyle will be working closely with Elaine Dean and supporting in the delivery of business and community engagement strategy and events working on programmes and events including the Career Booster Programme, Knowledge Transfer Network and Help to Grow Scheme.

The home of the University of Bradford School of Management sits in the centre of the City campus. The building was created with an ambition to create a highly sustainable low energy building that will incorporate inventive design, innovative materials with low embodied energy, sustainable technologies and ecological enhancements. 

Used as an educational tool through the expression of materials, systems, technologies and structure. The South facing elevation is designed with a twin skin glass wall with a full height open space between each skin to harness heat gains for the winter. Solar flues are a feature of the southern facade to enhance the natural ventilation/cooling. The flues create an enhanced stack effect which draws air from each of the open plan floors creating a natural flow of air to ventilate and cool the rooms. The building is to be constructed from thermally ‘heavy weight’ materials to create high levels of thermal mass that will help to moderate temperature fluctuations internally.

The Bright Building is home to a the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences support team, our associate deans, the head of School of Management and our state of the art facilities for teaching. It is one the most environmentally friendly buildings in the UK and has achieved the highest ever ‘outstanding’ BREEAM rating for a university building, placing it in the top one percent of UK buildings in terms of sustainability and reducing environmental impact.

The Bright Building houses a number of our key facilities including the Entrepreneur's Lounge, MBA/DBA Teaching Suite and Bloomberg Suite which form our Innovation Hub.

Our Bloomberg Data Analytics Suite is a state of the art teaching facility. The suite hosts 30 dual-monitor work stations, presenting facilities and a breakout balcony area. The work stations are equipped with a wide range of software including SAS, Sage 50 and SPSS.

Throughout the year the facilities are used for teaching on a range of our Accounting, Finance and Risk Management modules for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

We also utilise the facilities during our Career Booster week to deliver specialised workshops on a range of software including SAS and Sage 50. This allows students to gain skills and knowledge outside of their scheduled teaching to advance their career aspirations.

The Entrepreneur's Lounge is a dedicated space to collaborative working opportunities. The Hub offers group work areas, direct access into our sun space in the Bright Building and presenting facilities. The space has recently been upgraded to include Microsoft Surface equipment available.

The Entrepreneur's Lounge has hosted a wide range of courses to both internal and external facilitators. We have worked with partners to deliver the Help to Grow: Management programme, apprenticeship degree programmes and our ASEP (Accelerated Student Entrepreneurship Programme). The room has also hosted a wide range of events including the Knowledge Transfer Network and School of Management celebration.

In June 2022 the Entrepreneur's Lounge was also used to host the inaugural Entrepreneurship Festival where academics and external partners collaborated to deliver a week long programme to aspiring entrepreneurs. The space hosted a range of workshops including an entrepreneurial simulation, roundtable discussions and keynote speeches.

Our MBA/DBA Suite is the home to our DBA and MBA programmes delivered in the School of Management. Our award winning programmes are hosted in the teaching facilities which boast flexible room arrangements, presenting facilities and access to our sun space.

The programmes are ranked number 1 globally for value for money, number 3 in the UK for salary increase and number 10 in the world for career progression. The room is available for use for events and teaching and has recently hosted a range of Career Booster workshops including a Management Consultancy Clinic.

The space regularly gets used for faculty meetings, student workshops and as a breakout space for programmes delivered in the Entrepreneur's Lounge.