Professor Julia Rouse holds a Chair in Decent Work and Productivity at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her entrepreneurship research is concerned with decent work and productivity in small firms, for entrepreneurs and their staff. In projects funded by the ECRC, Leverhulme Trust, Oxfam, government and local authorities, Julia has considered how policy can support entrepreneurs who are young, working class, unemployed, pregnant, mothers or from ethnically diverse communities to develop ‘decent self-employment’. Julia’s research on people management in small firms include research on workplace maternity management and processes that work to develop people management skills. Julia has advanced the notion of Engaged-Activist Scholarship. She is currently involved in innovating diversity and inclusion approaches in the social housing sector and the NHS, via Knowledge Transfer Partnership.
