Dr Ozdemir appointed Director of Doctoral Studies

Dr Salih Zeki Ozdemir has been appointed the new Director of Doctoral Studies at the UNSW Business School.

Dr Ozdemir has been at UNSW since completing a PhD in Business at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business in 2006 and is currently an AGSM Fellow and Senior Lecturer of Strategic Management at the School of Management in the UNSW Business School.

In his new role, he will oversee the introduction of the Business School’s new four-year Doctoral Program which will start in February 2019.

Professor Elizabeth Carson, Associate Dean (Research) at UNSW Business School, said: “It is terrific to have Salih as part of the Research Office team and we look forward to his leadership to the HDR community within the Business School and across UNSW.”

Dr Ozdemir said: “I am honoured and delighted to take up my position as Director of Doctoral Studies and am excited to help develop and roll out the innovative new Business School PhD program.

“The program will allow for two successive years of advanced coursework, thus equipping our students with the rigorous skills required for a future research career in the world’s elite institutions. I look forward to helping our high-quality cohort make a valuable impact on business thinking for many years to come.”

Dr Ozdemir started his career as an engineer working on innovative research projects in intelligent control and artificial intelligence, before being accepted by Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago where he completed his PhD in Organisations and Markets.

He then joined the UNSW Business School and is specifically interested in the formal and informal networks among people and organisations and how these networks affect the strategic decisions they undertake and the performance they achieve. 

Dr Ozdemir received the 2007 Academy of Management Best Paper Award from the Technology and Innovation Management Division of AOM for his research on social structures and innovation performance (co-authored with Dr. Xing Zhong). 

He also received the 2011 Best Paper Award from Strategy Stream of ANZAM for his research on how entrepreneurs can design better social networks and the 2014 Corporate Governance – An International Review Best Paper Published award for his research on board composition, governance bundles, and national institutional structures. In addition, he was the recipient of 2008 and 2011 AGSM MBA Teaching Excellence in a Core Course Award at the UNSW Business School.

Grants received by Dr Ozdemir for his research include a Goldstar Research Grant (2009), Business School Research Grant (2014 and 2015) and a $340,000 ARC Linkage Grant (together with 3 School of Management colleagues, GE Capital, and Pitcher Partners) running from 2014-2017.