UOWD doctoral student presents at international management conference

Sunday, 23 March, 2014

Mardeya Al Balooshi, a PhD student at the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD), took the stage at the ERA ranked Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference to present preliminary research related to her doctoral studies in the field of human resource development.Emirati student Mardeya, who is pursuing a PhD alongside her job as Head of Performance Management at Dubai Police Academy, is among the first of UOWD’s PhD students to showcase the early stages of their research on an international platform.Under the supervision of UOWD Associate Deans, Dr Payyazhi Jayashree and Dr Scott Fargher, Mardeya is now at the data collection stage of her doctoral studies, focussed on the impact of creativity training in the UAE public sector.Mardeya’s paper was selected for the conference proceedings in a competitive stream, which involved a rigorous double-blind review process by academic experts in the field. She was among a line-up of distinguished scholars and practitioners at the 27th edition of the annual ANZAM conference, held in Hobart, Australia.ANZAM is the primary professional body for management educators, researchers and practitioners in Australia and New Zealand, and the annual conference attracts hundreds of participants from the two countries, as well as from the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Europe.Under the conference theme, ‘Managing on the Edge’, Mardeya presented her paper entitled ‘Creativity training programs in the UAE government sector: lessons from the literature’. The paper highlighted the significance of creativity training programs within the UAE and suggested directions for measuring the impact of such training based on scholarly literature and best practices around the world.Mardeya said, “With a background in training, I am interested in looking at innovative ideas and developing difference solutions to evaluate training programs. It was a wonderful experience to attend the ANZAM Conference and to present alongside experts in the field, and to be selected for the conference by academic peers is a hugely motivating factor as I continue with my studies.”