Role
Néstor is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management with significant academic, research, and doctoral (PhD/DBA) supervision experience.
Néstor led the School’s MBA programme (2008-2010), the DBA (open) programme (2010-2013), and the School’s PhD programme (2013-2020). He was also Deputy Chair of the University Research Degrees Committee (URDC), which oversees the University’s research degrees provision (2018-2020).
Néstor is currently a Co-investigator, and the Chair of the Ethics Board Committee, in the Horizon2020 Smart-BEEjS project on Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) and systemic thinking. This €4million project is financed by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Innovative Training Networks (Grant Agreement No. 812730). Smart-BEEjS is a consortium of eight universities and research centres, supported by 16 non-academic entities, in the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. The consortium provides training and personal and professional development for 15 doctoral students from different academic backgrounds who will be reading towards their own PhD degrees in relation to PEDs. They are supported by a carefully chosen supervisory team that maximises academic excellence as well as interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral collaboration. The project (to be completed in 2023) was awarded the Business School’s “Best Research Project” Prize when the grant was awarded in 2018.
Néstor has delivered the module to prepare the University’s doctoral candidates for their viva voce examination and the University’s doctoral supervision training. He organised the annual NTU Research Students’ Festival (2019-20). Most recently, he prepared the initial NTU Doctoral School’s Success for All (SfA) strategy design and implementation documents and presented them to the University’s steering committee.
In addition, Néstor has been a member of the College’s (Business, Law and Social Sciences) Research Degrees Committees (CRDC), and of the College’s Research Ethics Committees (CREC). Néstor has supervised to completion sixteen DBA/PhD students (including seven as Director of Studies). These research projects follow a stakeholder engagement and systems thinking (SEST) approach. He has also supervised MBA students’ dissertations and led several modules at Masters level (MSc/MBA) in HRM, business ethics, sustainability, and advanced research methods.
Néstor is a Chartered Member of the UK’s Institute of Personnel and Development (Chartered MCIPD), and a Senior Fellow of the UK’s Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
Career overview
After graduating as a chemical engineer, Néstor worked in the petrochemical and ceramics industries, first as an engineer and then as a Personnel Manager, while reading for a PGDip in HRM. He then read for an MA (Distinction) and a PhD in Systems Thinking at the University of Hull. He has also attended the Programme on Negotiation, Executive Education, at Harvard.
He held academic posts at the Universities of Hull and Lincoln before joining the Nottingham Business School. Néstor has taught business ethics (CSR; sustainability; diversity), research methods, human resources, and systems thinking in several undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the UK and overseas (including China and Mexico).
Research areas
Stakeholder Engagement and Systems Thinking (SEST)
Néstor’s research interests emerged from his Doctoral studies into systems thinking and management. He has explored and applied systemic thinking in the fields of business ethics (including CSR/diversity); systems thinking and practice; human resource management; social housing; information systems and, more recently, in energy and sustainability as a Co-investigator in the Horizon2020 Smart-BEEjS project mentioned above.
Néstor has worked on several multi-disciplinary projects that focus on improving the quality of the interaction between stakeholders with diverse and sometimes conflicting perceptions and interests. Addressing such factors contributes to strategic decision-making and information management capabilities.
For example, in a project on social housing that he initiated and subsequently led with Professor Alistair Mutch, he was able to bring together the views and interests of various stakeholders, such as the local crime and drugs partnership; the police; the social housing provider; building contractors and architects; local residents, and several GP surgeries, in order to evaluate and maximise the impact of a £300million housing regeneration investment in the city. This systemic and participatory approach facilitated the definition of certain areas of common interest, such as crime reduction; energy efficiency, fuel poverty, and sustainability; the measurement of resident satisfaction, and health and well-being.
It also provided a framework for the definition of priorities and action plans that addressed the needs of the service users (residents); improved mutual understanding, trust, and cooperation among stakeholders, and contributed to the social housing service provider’s strategic decision-making and information management capabilities. This systemic approach not only supported the strategic objectives of different stakeholders; it also had a positive impact in the redesign of the services provided, improving users’ participation, engagement, and satisfaction.
Finally, it allowed the service provider to demonstrate how this investment could contribute to improvements along certain social indicators (policing, health, and the local economy), and to various strategic objectives of the city (e.g., carbon reduction and apprenticeships). The impact of the project has been acknowledged in several fora including debates in the Houses of Parliament (Hansard), and on the Department of Communities and Local Government’s website. This project was selected as one of the impact case studies submitted by the Business School to REF.
Néstor was a Board member of the Standing Committee for Organisational Symbolism (SCOS), co-leading the SCOS 2015 Conference at NBS, and co-editing the Culture and Organization’s special issue: HOME in 2017.
He has been awarded research grants by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) – see external activity tab.
Néstor co-authored, with Professors Colin Fisher and Alan Lovell, the fourth edition of the book Business Ethics and Values, Pearson: Financial Times. He also co-authored, with Alice Jones and Dan Lucas, the book: The Effects of ‘Secure Warm Modern’ Homes in Nottingham: Decent Homes Impact Study, Nottingham City Council. More recently, he authored an original chapter, and co-authored a second one, for the peer-reviewed UN Encyclopaedia on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
External activity
City Arts Nottingham
City Arts Nottingham (founded in 1977) is an organisation that stands up for people who are underrepresented in the arts. It sees talent where it has been overlooked and undervalued. Its work is often disruptive and always empowering. City Arts is a registered charity in England and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Néstor is a Trustee and a Board Member.
Nottingham Contemporary
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) awarded Néstor a grant to study the potential of developing an archiving system at Nottingham Contemporary (one of the largest arts centres in the UK), where he is a member of its academic advisory group. Future collaborations are currently being explored.
External examiner
He has held a number of appointments as External Examiner in British Business Schools (Lincoln; Liverpool; London; Coventry), and has been invited as Visiting Professor to ITESM (Mexico) and to Los Andes University (Bogotá, Colombia).