PhD Scholars

Dr Ayoma Sumanasiri started her academic career in 2006 as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Kelaniya and is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Commerce, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayawardenepura, Sri Lanka. She completed her Bachelor of Commerce (Special – International Trade) Degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka in 2004 with a first-class honours. Dr Ayoma holds a MBA from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her Master's dissertation identified international business challenges faced by regional exporters who trade within the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SAARC). She completed her PhD at the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD research topic is “An examination of business leadership in Sri Lanka: Cultural modelling of sustainability leadership”. The focus of this study is on excellent leadership practices that would enable to create sustainable businesses in a complex business environment.

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Other specific areas of her research interests include ethical and responsible leadership and the challenges for managers in developing economies. Her research work has been published in both local and international journals and conference proceedings. Apart from being a researcher she also teaches in various classes at the local and international level degree programs.

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She also supervises bachelors and master level research students. At present she works as the department representative at the Faculty Quality Assurance Committee, Accreditations committees, Post Graduate Committee, Faculty Research Committee, Faculty Development Fund, Curriculum designing and review committee at the Faulty of Management Studies and Commerce - USJ. Apart from her full time work she is a visiting lecturer in the Swinburne University of Technology, Australian Degree Programs conducted by the Nawaloka College of Higher Studies – Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Dr Richard Laferriere is a lecturer in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Discipline in the School of Business at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.  Rick has a love of discovering opportunity and finding ways to develop solutions to capitalise on them. His research interests include understanding the importance of leadership behaviours that enable creativity and innovation in employees and organizations from a culture specific perspective. Additionally, his research interests include entrepreneurship across demographic and cultural groups; organizational change, innovation and creativity management, leadership and cross-cultural study. 

 

Rick is currently involved in a research project with an aboriginal corporation developing community capacity around governance.  Originally from Canada, Rick spent over a decade working in economic development at a community and provincial level in Canada for both government and leading business organizations.  His work has focused on industry cluster development, business retention and expansion, community development and investment attraction.  Along with his work background, Richard has been involved in entrepreneurial endeavours for several years having owned and operated a concert booking and promotion agency as well as creating and successful launching a community radio station in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Vindhya Rukmanthi Nettikumara is a PhD scholar in Business at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Vindhya holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a distinction pass from the Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK and she was given a special letter in recognition of her exceptional performance, positioning her in the upper quartile of graduates in the MBA programme. Vindhya completed her BA (Hons) in Business Administration from the Staffordshire University, UK with first-class honours. Vindhya gained industry exposure as a secretary and a marketing coordinator from the well-known Sri Lankan conglomerate Brown and Company PLC and started her academic career in 2012. She has worked as a lecturer in Northshore College of Business and Technology (affiliated to University of West of England, UK) and Universal College Lanka (affiliated to University of Central Lancashire, UK and Monash University, Australia) and as a research assistant.
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Vindhya’s passion towards leadership research grew while she was lecturing in the fields of Leadership, Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour. During her PhD journey, Vindhya identified ‘Excellence in Leadership’ as an interesting arena in leadership research and she has incorporated barriers to women as leaders in organizations, as dimensions to leadership excellence in Sri Lanka. Vindhya identifies the impact of unique cultural values in Sri Lanka towards leadership excellence in Sri Lankan organizations. Vindhya believes that the findings of her study will contribute towards human resource capacity building in Sri Lankan organizations, provide insights to gender considerations in emerging economies and to achieve gender equality, the fifth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations. Vindhya won the 3 Minute Thesis - People's Choice Award 2020 from the Faculty of Business and Law of the Swinburne University of Technology, Australia (watch here). She believes that every victory should be celebrated, no matter how small, as the gratification given by every achievement during a PhD is immense. 

 

While enjoying her PhD journey in Australia, Vindhya has utilized her creative and innovative skills to become an entrepreneur. She has embarked on her entrepreneurship portfolio within the industries of fashion and e-commerce. Besides her PhD and entrepreneur work, Vindhya loves cooking, novel reading and implementing positive thinking and self-care practices.

Zaid Alqhaiwi is a Ph.D. candidate in Business Administration at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. He completed his Master in Business Administration (MBA) at Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus. His background includes serving in the Human Resources Department in the private sector organisations in Jordan. In the last three years, he has been researching in the field of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management. When he is not glued to the computer screen doing research for publication, he is reading a book on psychology, spending time working in the garden, and trying not to be the worst swimmer.

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Alqhaiwi aspires to make a difference in these areas through his researches and wishes to support the development of Human Resources in his country (Jordan). In his endeavour to develop and support HR development in his country, he found the Excellence in Leadership (EIL) research beneficial. EIL researches focus on studying managerial preferences reflecting organisational, managerial, and cultural preferences in which traits, behaviours and perceptions of managerial leadership vary among cultures. He believes that creating a profile for Jordanian managers will provide a further understanding of the managerial leadership style in Jordan and helps in developing the Human Resources area. He is currently enjoying his Ph.D. journey in Australia, and in the short term, he aims to publish a number of articles. He can be contacted at zaid_alqhaiwi@hotmail.com.
 

Ragland Thomas Gamaliel is a HR and OD Professional with experience in Consulting, Manufacturing, IT & Shared Services Industries with 25+ years of experience in diverse and global organizations. He has completed his Masters in International HRM from Cranfield School of Management, UK, Masters in Social Work from Madras School of Social Work, India, Advanced Certificate in Strategic HRM from Cornell University, USA and Executive Program in Strategic Performance Management from XLRI, India.

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He is a Certified Executive Coach and is certified in the Marshal Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching, IC Agile Coaching, and is an International Coaching Federation certified Associate Certified Coach. He is a Certified OD Consultant and Facilitator and has completed the OD Certified Professional and the Certified OD Consultant certifications from the Institute of Organization Development, USA. He is a Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach and Trainer and is certified to deliver the EQi & EQ360 Certification Program by Multi Health Systems Inc, Canada.
 
Ragland’s research interest is in Leadership and Generations and is engaged in researching the perceptions of Managerial Leadership Excellence of the Multiple Generations in India.