Edinburgh Napier University

Biography

Dr Laura Gerard is a Lecturer in HRM and is currently the programme leader for the MSc HRM (with CIPD) programme. Laura is an Academic Associate Member of the CIPD and fellow member of the Higher Education Academy. Working in partnership with colleagues, Laura has a strong track record of prioritising student experiences to deliver modules and programmes.
She joined the team at Edinburgh Napier University in 2012 as Graduate Teaching Assistant and began working on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules. She has held programme leader roles for online and home programmes along with module leadership responsibilities for a number of modules at a variety of levels studied both here in Edinburgh, in Singapore and online.

Laura recently completed her PhD studies surrounding Sustainable Leadership; with her thesis entitled 'An Analysis of Sustainable Leadership Challenges and Prospects in Scottish Higher Education’. She is already holder of an MSc in Human Resource Management with CIPD accreditation and a postgraduate certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Edinburgh Napier University along with a BA degree in Marketing and Management from Queen Margaret University.
Laura has presented at a number of International Conferences including the International Human Resource Development Conference, Sustainable Leadership Conference and the International Studying Leadership Conference. Papers have included conceptualising Sustainable Leadership and also Employer Branding and its impact on Employee Engagement. In 2012 Laura won the National CIPD prize for her Masters dissertation entitled ‘Hand Picked Hotels: A critical evaluation of the employer branding and its impact on employee engagement’. She is an active member of the local CIPD branch and focuses on the Knowledge into Practice events where theory and practice come together for colleagues in academia and practice to share current research and best practices.