Professor David Collinson

Distinguished Professor of Leadership & Organisation

Research Interests

Research focuses on critical approaches to leadership, management and organization. Primary interests explore leadership & followership dialectics; power, identities & insecurities; gender, men & masculinities; conformity, dramaturgy & resistance, and humour, positivity & Prozac leadership.

Books include: The Sage Handbook of Leadership; Major Works in Leadership Studies Volumes 1-4; Organizational Studies: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management Volumes I-4; Men as Managers, Managers as Men: Critical Perspectives on Men, Masculinities and Managements; Managing the Shop floor: Subjectivity, Masculinity and Workplace Culture; Managing to Discriminate, and Job Redesign: Critical Perspectives on the Labour Process.

Articles have appeared in leading journals such as Organization Studies, Human Relations, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Journal of Management Studies, Work, Employment & Society, Organization, Gender, Work & Organization, Leadership and Leadership Quarterly. David holds a doctorate, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in management sciences from the University of Manchester.

In 2009 he completed a three year secondment as the National Research Director (2006-2009) for the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL)/Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).

David is the Founding Co-Editor (with Keith Grint) of the peer reviewed, international journal 'Leadership'. The journal has established a reputation for critical, high quality and cutting-edge leadership research. He is also the Founding Co-Organiser of the 'International Studying Leadership Conference' (again with Keith Grint). In addition to being held four times at Lancaster University, this meeting has been hosted at the Universities of Oxford, Exeter, Cranfield, Warwick, Auckland, Birmingham, Lund, Copenhagen, Richmond, Rome and Edinburgh.

Routledge (Publisher)
Editorial activity

International Leadership Association (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

European Group of Organization Studies (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

British Academy of Management (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

International Society for Humour Studies (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

International Association For Studies of Men (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

Polity Press (Publisher)
Editorial activity

Macmillan (Publisher)
Editorial activity

ESRC (Publisher)
Editorial activity

Sage Publishers (Publisher)
Editorial activity

Walter De Gruyter (Publisher)
Editorial activity

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Publisher)
Editorial activity

Open University Press (Publisher)
Editorial activity

Oxford University Press (Publisher)
Editorial activity

17th International Studying Leadership Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

International Leadership Association (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

Power: The Absent Presence’
Invited talk

14th International Studying Leadership Conference (ISLC)
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Organizational Studies (External organisation)
Membership of board

International Leadership Association (External organisation)
Member of an organisation

Centre for Excellence in Leadership
Visiting an external academic institution

International Studying Leadership Conference Executive Committee member
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience

Leadership (Journal)
Editorial activity

Leadership (Journal)
Editorial activity

Gender, Work and Organization (Journal)
Editorial activity

Gender, Work and Organization (Journal)
Editorial activity

Organization Studies (Journal)
Editorial activity

Lancaster University Research Prize (Established Researchers) for ‘excellent work in the field of leadership’
Prize (including medals and awards)

Resistance through Difference: The Co-Constitution of Dissent and Inclusion
Prize (including medals and awards)

Identities and Insecurities: Selves at Work’’ (2003)
Prize (including medals and awards)

The Future of Policing
Prize (including medals and awards)

Rethinking Leadership Research
Prize (including medals and awards)

Emerald Citation of Excellence
Prize (including medals and awards)

  • People, Work and Organisation