Derin Kent

I am an Associate Professor of Organisation Studies at Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. I specialise in ethnographic research with people who work in extreme contexts, that is, those that are physically or psychologically dangerous. Over the years, this has meant embedding with participants ranging from storm chasers to seafarers to disaster relief teams to draw lessons about how people and organisations thrive in highly adverse conditions. My research appears in top academic journals (e.g., Academy of Management Journal, Organization Studies) and outlets like Harvard Business Review and The Conversation. At Warwick Business School, I co-founded and co-direct the Extreme Contexts Unit, which brings together an international community of researchers who study organisations dealing with risks, emergencies, and disruptions.

Prior to joining Warwick, I was a postdoc at Aalto University (Finland) and earned my PhD at Queen’s University (Canada). I have experience as a university instructor in Europe and North America (including MBA and executive programmes), teaching subjects like change management, career management, organisational behaviour, and research methods.

Outside of academia, I am an outdoor enthusiast and an Operational Team Leader at the British Red Cross, where I respond to incidents ranging from fires to floods and provide emergency management training to organisations.