Ramesh joined Kent Business School in November 2022 as a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Project Management (PM).
Previously, she worked as a senior Academic in Project Management at Southampton University, since 2012. Previously, she worked at Northumbria University as a researcher and full-time Assistant Professor in International Project Management.
Ramesh designed the Southampton Business School’s MSc in Project Management (PM) upon joining and led the programme successfully since its launch. The MSc had received external recognition and attracted many distinguished PM professionals and academics collaborators. She sat on various PG Boards and committees such as Research Ethics, recruitment, Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability, student grants and scholarships. She was a member of the Faculty Graduate School Directorate as the Deputy PGR Senior Tutor and Senior Tutor.
Ramesh holds a PhD in Project Management from the former School of the Built and Natural Environment, Northumbria University. Her fully sponsored PhD on ‘Conceptual framework for trade-off decisions in projects’ was granted one of the first PhD awards of the Major Projects Associations (MPA) for its impact on and applicability in major projects. She was awarded a dual MSc (Distinction) in International PM from Northumbria University and Chalmers University in Sweden. She gained her BEng (ranked 2nd at School) and MEng (ranked 2nd & 4th in national exam) in Industrial Engineering, respectively from Iran University of Science and Technology and Sharif University of Technology.
In between her degrees, Ramesh worked with several major companies in different industries, namely IT and management consulting in the power industry, manufacturing and industrial research. Her roles in programmes/projects included project manager, consultant, strategy designer, auditor, senior analyst and management educator.
Ramesh is generally keen on critical reviews of project management theories and practices besides the challenges and opportunities of multidisciplinary research in PM. Her main research areas have been making critical project decisions and tradeoffs; responsible PM leadership, research, and education, along with ethics in PM research and practice.
She was one of the investigators for a PMI granted research on responsible leadership and ethical decision making in projects (published by PMI in 2018). In 2021, Ramesh initiated, organised and chaired the first Contemporary PM stream of the Operations Research Society’s conference (OR63). She received a school grant for an interdisciplinary research on work-life balance of project managers.
Ramesh has presented extensively in international academic conferences (e.g., IPMA, DSI, EDEN, CIB, AHP, and PRME), delivered special opening and keynote sessions on opportunities and challenges of collaboration between PM and OR (Operations Research). She co-authored journal and conference papers.
She has contributed book/handbook chapters on ethics and ethical research in PM, reviews textbook proposals and manuscripts for a few major international academic publishers and has been the referee for special papers of the PM and OR Society’s journals and conferences.
Ramesh’s PhD findings (particularly on realities of decision making in projects and the shortcomings of traditional PM) have been strongly informing her curriculum design besides responsible delivery and leadership of modules/programme.
Ramesh’s main aspirations in education have been developing and strengthening the students’ analytical and critical thinking capabilities to ultimately become responsible, reflective, and lifelong learner professionals. In teaching, she integrates sound, relevant and practically valid PM academic knowledge, with the knowledge and experiences from the PM practice.
Ramesh has extensive experiences in PG (master’s level) curriculum design, programme leadership, recruitment, validation, revamp, review, impactful assessment, and external examination. She has supervised about two hundred, including several award-winning, PG and UG supervisees. She is a PhD supervisor and examiner and has coached and mentored PGRs in her various roles.
Her current main teachings are ‘Project Management Offices’ and ‘Strategic Portfolio Management’. Previously, she had designed, led, and taught PG modules, on Project Management – People, Organizations and Societies; Decision Making and Analysis in Projects; Project Management – Processes and Functions; Research Methods; MSc Dissertation; Extended Topics in PM; and PM Fundamentals. She led the team teaching of UG/PG modules.
Ramesh received multiple nominations for the best student experience and most engaging lecturer and was shortlisted for the Vice Chancellor’s award at the faculty level. She organised and guided several student teams to win the regional APM competitions. Her supervisees and tutees won or were nominated for the best dissertation and student of the year national awards.
Ramesh had delivered provocative talks on the challenges and rewards of responsible education in PM (and management in general) at PRME and other academic conferences.
Current Supervisee:
Leonora Amponsah-Asante (2022-) Antecedents and Consequences of Organisational Silence in Project Organisations. Southampton Business School.
Supervision Interests
Past PhD Supervisee:
Dr Ahmad Meile Almeile (2021). The role of political and economic stability on the success of public-private partnership (PPP) construction projects from a project management perspective. Southampton Business School.
Mohammed Alharithi (2023). An investigation into the integration of sustainability in project management in not-profit organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Southampton Business School.
Ramesh is a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy), an Ambassador for Responsible Project Management (RPM) and a contributor to the RPM manifesto.
She has been working with PM Professional Bodies in different capacities, notably, as a judge, committee member, grant reviewer ($50,000), academic reviewer, speaker and panel member (Major Projects Associations). She delivered CPD trainings on decision making in projects via PMI.
She was a committee member and HEI representative of the Association for Project Management’s (APM) Wessex Branch and a full member of the APM for several years. She has education and experiences in coaching (personal, education and business).
Ramesh presented artwork on women in academia and human interactions in academic-public engagement exhibitions and a conference. Her installation on Women in Academia (exhibited at Winchester School of Art and John Hansard Gallery – Southampton) was granted the people’s choice award.
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