Holly Patrick-Thomson
holly patrick thomson

Dr Holly Patrick-Thomson

Lecturer

Biography

Dr Holly Patrick is a Lecturer in the Human Resource Management Group of Edinburgh Napier University’s Business School. Awarded her PhD in 2013 from the University of St Andrews, Holly’s research focusses on the changing nature and future of work in the creative and craft sectors.

Her research on creative work predominantly focusses on the tensions and precarity experienced by creative workers, particularly freelancers, and the forms of peer support and solidarity this produces. She has published articles on these topics in international journals such as Work Employment and Society, Management Learning, and the Asia Pacific Journal of Arts and Cultural Management. She collaborates with creative businesses, campaign groups and industry bodies in the UK and is Chair of the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group for Creative and Cultural Industries. She is currently working on an interdisciplinary research project with collaborators form the School of Computing, scoping the development of an Artificial Intelligence advisor for creative freelancers, more details on which can be found at https://www.crisiscreatives.online/.

Her work on the changing nature of the craft beer sector and work therein involves collaborations with academics and brewers from across the UK and further afield. Her research on work in craft beer has been published by Routledge and Palgrave. Along with her academic collaborators, she published an edited collection with Emerald: 'Researching Craft Beer', based on the outcomes of an international symposium she co-hosted in Edinburgh in 2019. She is currently working on a paper conceptualising the effects of institutional complexity on the work and identity of craft brewers.

Before joining ENU, Holly was a Visiting Scholar for 2 years at the University of Technology, Sydney. During her time there, Holly’s work was presented at UTS, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and the University of Melbourne, as well as prestigious conferences such as the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management.

In addition to her personal research agenda, Holly has been involved in several large-scale, externally funded research projects. While at St Andrews, she was part of a 5 person team assigned to deliver a report analysing the future of the European automotive industry for the governing body of the European Economic Community. At UTS, Holly was project manager of a 7 person team awarded the contract to develop the Australian Leadership Capabilities Standard.

Research Areas

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Invited to speak to Scottish Government Roundtable on Cultural Resilience

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Organiser of Virtual Writing Retreat for the British Academy of Management CCI SIG
  • Track Session Chair - BUIRA Conference
  • Creative and Cultural Industries Track Chair - British Academy of Management
  • Organiser - Craft Beer in Theory and Practice Symposium

 

Editorial Activity

  • Special Issue Editor for the Journal of Political Power

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner - University of Dundee

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Awarded Best Developmental Paper in Cultural and Creative Industries Track at British Academy of Management Conference 2021
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Authority
  • Nominated for Above and Beyond ENU Award for co-founding Research Clinics
  • Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
  • Best Full Paper Award for Identity Track at British Academy of Management Conference 2012

 

Invited Speaker

  • Expert Contributor to CIPD Podcast on Dogs in the Workplace
  • Invited to give guest symposia on worker precarity to Penn State University
  • Invited to sit on panel debating “The Future of Business Schools” at Edinburgh Napier University
  • Invited to sit on a panel discussing PhD publication strategies at UTS (Australia)
  • Invited to present research on cultural precarity at a research showcase at RMIT (Australia)

 

Media Activity

  • Guest Columnist for The Courier
  • Featured in The Scotsman article: Scotland’s craft brewers can use pandemic lessons to manage cost-of-living crisis
  • National Radio Interview
  • Author at The Conversation
  • Interviewed by The Times

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Elected Chair of Special Interest Group for Creative and Cultural Industries - British Academy of Management
  • President of EIS-ULA
  • Member of the British Academy of Management
  • Member of British Sociological Association
  • Elected Member of EIS-ULA National Committee

 

Non-executive Directorship

  • Member of University Court

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Invited to Advise on Freelance Survey Development by Creative Edinburgh
  • invited to advise on Excluded UK survey development
  • The Great Scottish Craft Beer Hunt
  • Lead Organiser of CBREW - Craft Beer Research and Enterprise Symposium

 

Reviewing

  • Reviewer for Personnel Review
  • Reviewer for British Academy of Management Conference
  • Reviewer for Management Learning (Journal)
  • Reviewer for Bristol University Press
  • Reviewer for Cultural Trends (Journal)
  • Reviewer for Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference

 

Visiting Positions

  • Visiting Scholar at the University of Technology, Sydney
  • Affiliated Researcher at the Institute for Capitalising on Creativity, University of St Andrews

 

Date


28 results

Researching Craft Beer: Understanding Production, Community and Culture in an Evolving Sector

Book
Clarke, D., Ellis, V., Patrick-Thomson, H., & Weir, D. (Eds.)
(2021). Researching Craft Beer: Understanding Production, Community and Culture in an Evolving Sector. Bingley: Emerald
Decades of stagnating demand for beer and the emergence of global brewing conglomerates had seen many of Britain’s longstanding breweries disappear and a decline in the divers...

Creatives in Crisis

Presentation / Conference
Patrick, H. (2021, April)
Creatives in Crisis. Paper presented at International Labour Process Conference 2021, London [Online]

Don’t Work for Free: Online Discursive Resistance to Precarity in Commercial Photography

Journal Article
Patrick-Thomson, H., & Kranert, M. (2021)
Don’t Work for Free: Online Discursive Resistance to Precarity in Commercial Photography. Work, Employment and Society, 35(6), 1034-1052. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020952630
While increasing academic attention has been paid to the precariousness of contemporary work, less research has examined how workers organise in response. This article examine...

How Coronavirus has hit the UK's creative industries

Other
Patrick, H., & Elsden, C. (2020)
How Coronavirus has hit the UK's creative industries. https://theconversation.com/how-coronavirus-has-hit-the-uks-creative-industries-147396
Patrick, H., & Elsden, C. (2020). How Coronavirus has hit the UK's creative industries. https://theconversation.com/how-coronavirus-has-hit-the-uks-creative-industries-147396

Ambidexterity within the Professional Ballet World: Scottish Ballet's Dancers' Education Group

Book Chapter
Whiteside, B., Patrick, H., & Cassidy, C. (2020)
Ambidexterity within the Professional Ballet World: Scottish Ballet's Dancers' Education Group. In A. R. David, M. Huxley, & S. Whatley (Eds.), Dance Fields: Staking a Claim for Dance Studies in the Twenty-First Centure (132-153). Hampshire: Dance Books
Within a dance sphere, it would, perhaps, be logical to consider the concept of ‘ambidexterity’ as linked to the physical use of the dancing body across a multitude of genres,...

Why More Companies are Going Dog Friendly

Other
Patrick, H. (2019)
Why More Companies are Going Dog Friendly. https://theconversation.com/why-more-companies-are-going-dog-friendly-123405
Bringing pet dogs into the workplace is becoming increasingly common. Large companies like Google, Ticketmaster and challenger bank Monzo are just a few that have joined compa...

Storytelling in the Craft Beer Bar

Presentation / Conference
Patrick, H. (2019, July)
Storytelling in the Craft Beer Bar. Paper presented at Craft Beer Research and Enterprise Workshop Symposium (CBREW), Edinburgh

Don’t Work For Free

Presentation / Conference
Patrick, H., & Kranert, M. (2019, July)
Don’t Work For Free. Paper presented at Work Employment and Society 2019

Don’t Work for Free: Photographers’ Online Discourses of Workplace Resistance

Presentation / Conference
Patrick, H., & Kranert, M. (2019, April)
Don’t Work for Free: Photographers’ Online Discourses of Workplace Resistance. Paper presented at Organisational Learning and Knowledge Conference 2019

Craft beer, Cicerones and changing identities in beer serving

Book Chapter
Clarke, D., Weir, D., & Patrick, H. (2018)
Craft beer, Cicerones and changing identities in beer serving. In Work, Working and Work Relationships in a Changing World. New York / Oxford: Routledge
There has been a revival of traditional beer in the UK and the craft beer market is becoming increasingly competitive, resulting in producers bringing a little more theatre to...

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • Contract Research funded by Australian Government - $149,600
  • UTS Business Research Grants - $20,000

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects