Role
Ofelia Palermo, PhD, SFHEA, is an Associate Professor of Relational Leadership and the Deputy Head of International at Nottingham Business School. She also leads the MSc International Business course suite and plays a key role in implementing the School and University's international strategy.
Career overview
Ofelia has over 20 years of professional experience in the Higher Education sector in the UK, US, and Europe. She holds a PhD in Organisational Behaviour (Loughborough University UK) and a Research Doctorate in Management of Public Sector Organisations (Università degli Studi della Calabria, Italy). Ofelia is dedicated to fostering global connections, engaging in responsible research, and driving sustainable pedagogical innovation. She actively promotes sustainable practices in education and advocates for inclusivity, diversity, and equality.
Her expertise in Internationalisation ranges across the strategic, tactical and operational levels reflecting into extensive knowledge of comparative international academic standards and quality assurance, international accreditations, international dual degree programme design, and establishment, development and management of overseas Academia - Industry partnerships.
She has successfully established and leads consortia that bring together Universities in the USA, South America, Europe and Taiwan. Ofelia’s work in internationalisation includes innovation in Collaborative Online International Learning activities. She initiated the Global Learning Experience Plus (COIL with an experiential component) which was recognised by the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) as a case of best practice of Partnership for the Goals (SDG17).
Winner of the Vice-Chancellor Award for Inspirational Teaching and active member of the Trent Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT), Ofelia is a visiting scholar in a few highly ranked Universities - ISCTE Business School in Portugal, Università degli Studi di Brescia and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano in Italy, KEDGE Business School in Marseille and ESC Clermont in France, and ICESI University in Colombia - where she contributes with classes on Cross-Cultural Management and Organisational Communication.
Research areas
Ofelia’s research falls into two areas:
- Innovative pedagogy in transnational education. Ofelia’s experience in internationalisation and in designing innovative experiential learning offers her the opportunity to reflect and promote the dissemination of good practice. She has published articles and case studies on innovative pedagogy in international programmes, transnational education, and international industry partnerships. She has also secured funding for implementing innovative pedagogical initiatives in France and Colombia.
- Relational leadership. Ofelia’s publications in this field explore the insights a relational leadership theory framework can offer when applied to organizational dynamics not typically associated with leadership. She also looks at socio-ideological control in organizations, mapping how leadership unfolds within those dynamics.
External activity
Ofelia’s work on international consultancies is in collaboration with Chambers of Commerce and companies based in Italy, Portugal, the US, Colombia, Greece, and France.
She is regularly asked by international Higher Education institution to provide advice on comparative international academic standards and quality assurance in Overseas – UK partnerships, with particular emphasis on dual degrees and establishment of international partner consortia.
Ofelia’s key external research collaborations are with the Organisation Theory and Organizational Behaviour group at ISCTE-IUL (PT), with the Università degli Studi di Brescia (IT), with Università Cattolica di Milano (IT), and with DePaul University in Chicago (USA).
Ofelia holds the role of Director of the Woodsend Wharf Management Company Ltd.
Sponsors and collaborators
Ofelia works closely with Units and colleagues at:
- KEDGE Business School (FR)
- Università degli Studi di Brescia (IT)
- Università Cattolica di Milano (IT)
- DePaul University in Chicago (USA)
- ISCTE-IUL in Lisbon (PT)
- POLIMI Graduate School of Management (IT)
- ESC-Clermont (FR)
- National Sun Yat Sen University (TW)
Ofelia’s adoption of a leaderful practice outlook can act as a key action enabler on underpinning paradigms, attitudes and behaviours, and agile pedagogical approaches. With her work Global Learning Experience Plus Ofelia demonstrates how partnerships between institutions that strive to integrate SDGs experiential learning international initiatives into Higher Education curricula have a generative power that goes beyond mere curriculum design. Her recognised work with PRME provides a context for accelerating the construction of a collective social responsibility ethos among students from different countries, institutions, and academic backgrounds.
