My Research

My research is based on organizations in challenging environments. My first major study was a six-month ethnographic study of an elite unit of UK military.  I followed them, lived with them and studied them as they prepared for and took part in a series of NATO exercises across Europe.

Through this study I focus particularly on the challenges of learning from experience which is inherently ambiguous, both from an experiential learning lens and a routine dynamics lens. 

I am currently in the process of negotiating access to an organization in which to commence a second study in a similar space. 

Working papers

You’d never do that in real life: patterning and performing routines in unrealistic training contexts. – Sole-authored.  2nd R&R received at the Academy of Management Journal, currently under review.

  • Won the Tim Morris award for best doctoral paper at Said Business School (2024).
  • Presented at EGOS Routine Dynamics track (2024) and PROS general track (2024).
  • Invited presentation at Johannes Kepler University of Linz (2025).

The ambiguity of learning from simulated experience. – Jackson & Rerup. Accepted at AoM and targeting ASQ in Q3/Q4 2025.

  • Accepted at AoM 2025.

Fight tonight, fight tomorrow. Ambidexterity under uncertainty.

  • PDW at conference in honour of Michael Tushman (2024).

Skin in the game: embodying identity in extreme contexts.