Dr Ahmad Al-Hiari

Job: Lecturer in Leadership and Management

Faculty: Business and Law

School/department: School of Leadership, Management and Marketing

Address: Hugh Aston 5.90 De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: 0116 366 4606

E: ahmad.al-hiari2@dmu.ac.uk

W: scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qucxx4YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ahmad-al-hiari-886250118/

 

Personal profile

Ahmad is a Lecturer in Leadership and Management at De Montfort University, and a Policy Fellow at the University of Sussex. Ahmad Co-chairs DMU's Staff Assembly since September 2022, where he works collaboratively with staff representatives and university leadership in developing cross-departmental cooperation.

Ahmad started his career as a strategic planner in 2017 where he worked for the Greater Amman Municipality in Jordan. In 2019, Ahmad worked as a research assistant for the Local Governance Research Centre (LGRC) during his PhD studies at the Faculty of Business and Law, and later undertook another researcher role at BAL in 2021. In 2022, Ahmad taught in Business and Management at DMU, and later that year, he joined the University of Sussex to teach on their professional MA program in Corruption and Governance. Ahmad currently teaches Leadership, Ethics and HRM at the School of Leadership, Management and Marketing (LMM). Ahmad is also a Member of the International Sub-Committee at The Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN), and has extensive experience in interviewing senior policymakers and government executives. In May of 2023, he successfully organized a major anti-corruption conference in Jordan attended by top officials like the British Ambassador. 

Throughout his work, Ahmad has conducted policy research across issues like decentralization, corruption, collaborative governance, and government stewardship. Specializing in Governance Reform and Policy Transfer, much of his research and Policy Engagement work has focused on investigating Policy Failure, and developing government capacity to respond to administrative challenges. Set against the background of the complex socio-political challenges that shape institutional change, Ahmad is particularly interested in investigating the effectiveness of western governance models when tested in informal and socially-influenced political systems such as in the Middle-East.

 

Research group affiliations

Local Governance Research Centre (LGRC)

People, Organisations and Work Institute (POWI)

Research interests/expertise

  • Administrative Devolution & Decentralization
  • Public Management
  • Policy Transfer
  • Governance Reform
  • Informality and Social Capital
  • Anti-Corruption Policy
  • Middle Eastern Governance
  • Political Stewardship
  • Public Sector Leadership
  • Collaborative Governance
  • Elite Interviewing

Areas of teaching

  • Leadership
  • Corruption
  • Ethics
  • Human Resource Management

Qualifications

  • 2011 – 2017, BSc Architecture (2:1), German-Jordanian University
  • 2017 – 2018, MA Housing, Development & Urban Management, with merit, Leeds Beckett University
  • 2018 – 2022, PhD Public Sector Governance, De Montfort University: “Jordanian Public Administration in Context: Reform Inertia, Wasta and Political Stewardship”, PhD by concurrent publication

Courses taught

  • [Apprenticeship] Contemporary Business Issues (CORX3548)
  • Business Ethics, Sustainability & Social Responsibility (BHRM2006)
  • Ethical Leadership and Management (BHRM300X)
  • Dissertation (LBPG5017)
  • Consultancy Project (ENTE5003)
  • Organisational Development and Consulting (HRMG3206)
  • Learning and Development (HRMG3207)
  • Globalisation and International HRM (HRMG3203)
  • HRM in the Workplace (HRMG2201)
  • Business Research Project (MARK5030)
  • Contemporary Business Issues (CORP3543)
  • Global Operations & Supply Chain Management (CORP2551)

Membership of external committees

Member of the International Sub-Committee, Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN)

Membership of professional associations and societies

Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIHCM)

Conference attendance

17 May 2022, "Evaluating Prospects for Large-Scale Governance Reforms Within Informal Socio-Political Contexts: A Case Study of The Decentralization Reforms in Jordan". Paper presented at the Local Governance Research Centre (LGRC) International Academic Seminar. De Montfort University, Leicester. (invited speaker)

Externally funded research grants information

Improving International Anti-Corruption Measures by Addressing Informal Practices in Middle-Eastern Public Administrations  - Knowledge Exchange Policy Fellowship. £7’500 grant from the Policy Support Fund (PSF), Research England to support the development of Anti-Corruption policy in Jordan. April 2023  - June 2023.

"Through funding by Research England, and under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC) at the University of Sussex, Ahmad convened a conference in Amman, Jordan to address emerging challenges in Anti-Corruption policy in the Middle-east and beyond. The project aims to inform a growing debate in academia and international anti-corruption frameworks on informal practices and their association with corruption. As such, this project aims to open a novel research direction focused on mitigating the negative impacts of of informal practices on governance reform efforts.

The conference was attended by the British Ambassador to Jordan, Ms. Bridget Brind OBE, the Minister of Public Works, the President of the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, the former President of the University of Jordan, and a number of members of the Jordanian Senate and former Ministers. The conference was also attended by representatives of the Prime Ministry of Jordan, the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, the Jordanian Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Capital Governorate Council, and the Income and Sales Tax Department. On the American side, the conference was attended by The American Anti-Corruption Institute (AACI).

This conference is part of a comprehensive project which aims to address gaps in international anti-corruption policy, and will set the groundwork for a future policy paper which will be presented to the Prime Ministry at a later date."

Postgraduate supervisions

Ahmad is open to postgraduate supervisions in any of the aformentioned research interest areas. Specifically, projects that address Government Reforms in the Middle East, Informality & Corruption, Leading Change in Public Institutions, and studies that use Elite Interviewing. 

PG Students Supervised

[10 Student]. MSc Dissertations. Individual Business Consultancy Projects. 1st supervisor. Completed October 2022.

[5 Student]. MSc Business Management Dissertations. 1st supervisor. Completed June 2022. 

[5 Student]. MSc Consultancy Project Reports. 1st supervisor. Completed September 2023. 

[13 Student]. MSc International Business and Human Resource Management. 1st supervisor. Completed October 2023.

Academic Expertise

As part of his research work, Ahmad has built extensive experience in planning, negotiating, conducting, and analyzing Elite Interviews with Senior Government Executives at Ministerial levels and above. Moreover, he has effectively engaged with key policy stakeholders and civil society leaders throughout his fieldwork and consultancies in Jordan and broader Middle-East.

PhD Thesis

Title: Jordanian Public Administration in Context: Reform Inertia, Wasta and Political Stewardship

Supervisors: Dr Jonathan Rose & Professor Steven Griggs

Examiners: Dr Karin Bottom & Professor Jonathan Davies

Research Areas: Public Administration and Public Policy

Specialized Area: Public Sector Governance

Methods: Elite interviewing and narrative-based policy analysis

ahmad-alhiari