Bob Doherty (academic)
Bob Doherty | |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | Academic |
| Title | Professor of Marketing |
| Academic background | |
| Education |
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| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Business and society |
| Institutions | |
Bob Doherty is a British academic, researcher, and former business executive. He specializes in food systems, social enterprise, fair trade, and sustainability. He is a professor at the University of York and served as the inaugural Dean of the School for Business and Society from 2022 to 2025. His research has focused on food systems resilience, regenerative food systems, fair trade, and hybrid organisations. He has also held policy roles with the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).[1][2]
Early life and education
Doherty studied Agricultural Environmental Science at Newcastle University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1988.[3]
He later completed a Master of Business Administration at Liverpool John Moores University in 1999. In 2009 he received a PhD from Liverpool Business School for a thesis titled "Resource Advantage Theory and Fair Trade Social Enterprises". He also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2006.[4]
Career
Doherty held management roles at Coopers Pitman Moore and at Norbrook Pharmaceuticals. From 1999 to 2003 he served as the first ever Head of Sales and Marketing of Divine Chocolate.[5]
Doherty joined Liverpool John Moores University in 2003 as senior lecturer in social enterprise and corporate social responsibility at Liverpool Business School. He founded the university's Sustainable Enterprise Research Group and helped establish one of the first master's programmes in social enterprise in the United Kingdom.[6]
In 2010 he became head of the Business and Law School at Liverpool Hope University.[7]
Doherty joined the University of York in 2012 as Professor of Marketing.[8] He served as deputy dean and acting dean of York Management School between 2013 and 2017 and later became inaugural dean of the School for Business and Society in 2022 following the integration of the departments of management and social policy.[9]
He has led and contributed to interdisciplinary research programmes on food systems resilience and sustainability, including leading the UK Research and Innovation-funded IKnowFood programme (£3.2m) and the FixOurFood programme, a £6.6 million research consortium examining regenerative food systems and sustainable food policy in the United Kingdom.[10]
In 2025 Doherty became interim director of research for the University of York Mumbai campus.[2]
Research
Doherty's research has focused on fair trade, social enterprise, hybrid organisations, sustainable supply chains, and food systems resilience.[11] He has published extensively in journals including the Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Management Reviews, Nature Food, Global Sustainability, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.[12]
His 2014 article with Helen Haugh and Fergus Lyon, "Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: A review and research agenda", became one of the most cited papers in the International Journal of Management Reviews.[13]
Awards and recognition
Doherty received the Vice-Chancellor's Global Citizenship Award at Liverpool John Moores University in 2010.[1] In 2019 he received the best paper award from Public Management Review.[3] In 2020 he was awarded an ASEAN Bualuang Chair Fellowship from Thammasat University to work on social enterprise in Thailand.[1]
Selected publications
- Management for Social Enterprise (2009)
- "Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: A review and research agenda" (2014)
- Where Next for Fair Trade (2013)
- "Transformations to Regenerative Food Systems" (2021)
- "UK government food strategy lacks ambition to achieve transformative food system change" (2022)
References
- 1 2 3 "Bob Doherty - School for Business and Society, University of York". www.york.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- 1 2 York, University of. "Researchers head to University of York Mumbai to lead new initiatives". University of York. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- 1 2 "Bob Doherty". The Conversation. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ "Chair Professors". research.tu.ac.th. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ "Public Lecture by Prof Bob Doherty on The Story of Divine Chocolate – Social Policy & Development International Programme". Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ keeratikorn (2025-05-20). "Professor Bob Doherty". KKU Research Division. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ "In Conversation With… Professor Bob Doherty – BremnerCo". Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ "Template for Internal Communications". Uliege.
- ↑ York, University of. "Tackling today's societal challenges: School for Business and Society official launch". University of York. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ York, University of. "York Research maps 27 ways to fix the UK's food system". University of York. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ "Sustainable diets will remain a minefield until we change the way we approach food". Eco-Business. 2018-03-02. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ↑ "SCArFEthics - Newcastle University". research.ncl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
- ↑ Doherty, Bob; Haugh, Helen; Lyon, Fergus (2014-01-03). "Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations: A Review and Research Agenda". International Journal of Management Reviews. 16 (4): 417–436. doi:10.1111/ijmr.12028. ISSN 1460-8545. Archived from the original on 2023-12-30.