Meet Dr Vicki Harvey, Senior Lecturer in People Management and Programme Leader for MSc Human Resource Management, here at Salford Business School. Vicki spent over a decade working on the expansion of the National DNA Database for The Forensic Science Service, where she acquired her expertise in project management and stakeholder engagement.
Reflecting on her rewarding undergraduate experience at the University of Salford, Vicki decided she wanted to return to the nostalgia of her early days in higher education and applied for her MBA at Salford Business School. Now, Vicki teaches across the University’s Business and Management, plus Human Resource Management (HRM) programmes. She is also the module lead for EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) for HR practitioners, as well as Enhancing Professional Practice for HRM, and she’s the Wellbeing Lead for Salford Business School, connecting with central University teams to support colleague wellbeing.
We recently connected with Vicki to find out more about her career path, her highlights over the years and what she loves about Salford.
How did you get into academia as a career path?
After graduating, I became a training consultant, working for The Forensic Science Service. I spent ten years working with police forces across England and Wales, supporting the expansion of the National DNA Database. This led to managing a practitioner forum to support change management and I became the Service Manager for the National DNA Database. I really enjoyed this part of my career as I developed my experiences in line management, stakeholder engagement, project management, and lots more. I decided that I wanted to progress my career further and returned to university to complete my MBA.
Why did you choose to work at the University of Salford?
I have a long relationship with the University of Salford, having been a very happy undergraduate student many years ago! Based on my undergraduate experience and my love for the city of Salford, I chose to complete my MBA at Salford Business School. From there, I began working as an Hourly Paid Academic (HPA) in the school and never left. Although I worked as a HPA at other universities as well, I eventually completed my PhD here in 2019 and with that was able to secure a position as a Lecturer in People Management. It is with the support of some great colleagues (and a bit of hard work) that I am where I am today.
What’s the best thing about being an academic at Salford?
The best part for me is that you are part of a team and a wider community who want to ensure the best experience for our students. One aspect is working with students who are the first in their family to come to university. As this was me so many years ago, I feel privileged to be able to continue that work, widening access to higher education. I never imagined I would get such opportunities when I first arrived all those years ago and I hope students today will get the same outcomes.
Additionally, I have been able to learn new things, gain experience in multiple different fields, work with a range of diverse people, and get involved in other projects. These include, knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) and co-leading a new research cluster.
Can you tell us about any of your career highlights to-date?
Successfully leading and surviving the running of an undergraduate super module – professional development was a big highlight for me. It was extremely rewarding to watch my students gain crucial employability skills that they will carry through into their professional careers. Also, managing to take this online during the pandemic and ensuring that the students were still engaged and valuing their time on the course.
Working with a fantastic teaching team, the module has several assessments for each student (normally over 350 in a cohort), but it has been key to ensuring authentic employability support and learning for our students. I tip my hat to any super module leaders and the teams; such modules can be professionally and academically challenging.
What’s your current research focused on?
My main area of expertise is within student employability. I am working on research to examine work-based learning uptake for our undergraduate students, looking at aspects of barriers and benefits as well as specific factors, such a confidence, psychological capital and resilience.
I am now working with colleagues on a two-and-a-half year knowledge transfer partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to enhance the embedding of an information sharing framework, that will allow us to develop a business change toolkit.
Do you have any published papers we can read?
Some personal highlights for me include:
- Handbook of Graduate Employability: ‘The student voice in employability within tertiary business and management education’
- Higher Education Computer Science: A Manual of Practical Approaches: Realising the threshold of employability in Higher Education
- Wonkhe: Employability is boosted when we focus on psychological capital
And finally, the all-important question, where in Manchester or Salford is best to grab a coffee?
I love the Salford Museum and Art Gallery Cafe, it has great cake, lovely staff and is an overall great venue. The Old Fire Station Bakery also has great coffee, plus wonderful pastries and bread. In Manchester city centre there is Factory Coffee, where they weigh the beans and take great care in the making each drink, which is wonderful too!