Dr M. May Seitanidi

Dr Seitanidi is the founder & lead of the Collaborative Solutions for Social Problems Lab and has also taken on other leadership roles within the School and the University including Director of Graduate Studies Research (PhD Programme Director), Institutional Lead for SeNSS for Business & Management (ESRC funded Doctoral Training Partnership); Deputy Director of Research at KBS (Medway Campus); member of the Postgraduate Development Committee of the Graduate Research College, elected Senate member and member of the Academic Freedom Senate sub-committee.

Dr Seitanidi is a member of the British Academy of Management. She is also a member of the Academy of Management Social Issues in Management Division (SIM) and served as Associate Editor for the 2012 AoM Conference, Boston, US and the SIM 2014 Best Book Award Committee.

She is also a member of the Academy of Management Public and Nonprofit Division (PNP), served as International Liaison Officer and Associate Editor for the 2011 AoM Conference.

Research Recognition:

2017 - Best Paper Award World Symposium on Sustainability Science: Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

2015 - Recipient of ARSP Honors List Certificate recognised as 'Thought Leader in Social Partnerships'. 

2014 - Recipient of Finalist Award from the Alliance of Nonprofit Management 'Terry McAdam' Book Award for the book: 'Creating Value in Nonprofit-Business Collaborations' co-authored with James E. Austin (Harvard Business School).

2013 - Shortlisted for the AoM SIM’s Division ‘Best Book Award of 2013’: ‘The Politics of Partnerships. A Critical Examination of Nonprofit-Business Partnerships’. 

2008 - Best Paper Award AIB-BRESE for excellence in business ethics writing, for the paper: “Intangible Economy: How can Investors Deliver Change in Businesses? Lessons from Nonprofit-Business Partnerships". 

Research Grants:

Mapping Suicide Prevention in the English Higher Education Sector: a Collaborative Sensemaking Approach in Implementing Suicide Prevention University of Kent and Wates Group £60,327 (PI)

Building and Connecting Cross-Boundary Qualitative Research Communities Ghent-Kent Fund £1,000 (PI)

Strengthening European social enterprises ecosystems: the role of cooperation between social economy enterprises and traditional enterprises European Commission €675,000 (proposal based on Austin and Seitanidi 2012a, 2012b framework role Advisor Panel)

Cross-sector Social Partnerships for the Implementation of Community Sustainability Strategies: A Study on the Relationships between Collaborative Structures and Outcomes SSHRC SRG $330,233 (CI)

Collaborating for Survival University of Kent Faculty of Social Sciences £3,515.52 pilot (PI)

Connected City scoping research project University of Hull VC Fund £20,000 (CI)

Implementing Agenda 21 through Local Agenda 21s: An International Study to Improve Collaborative Governance Structures and Green Economy Outcomes CIGI $30,000 (CI)

3rd International Symposium Making a Difference: Enhancing the Impact of Partnerships for the Social Good EABIS £5,000 (PI)

Implementation of collaborative regional sustainable development strategies: an international study of structure and outcomes SSHRC SRG $19,763 (CI)

Re-imagining Cross-sector Social Partnerships BRESE £4,000 (PI)

The Future Challenges of Cross-sector Interactions: Interactions between Nonprofit and Business as Complex Evolving systems BRESE £5,000 (PI)

Dr Seitanidi’s research is organised around three interrelated themes:
(1) Collaborative societal solutions to complex social problems including cross-sector partnerships for poverty alleviation (e.g., micro-finance, contract farming), social inclusion (e.g., employee volunteering) and coordinated service provision (e.g., programmatic agreements in emergency medical services and suicide prevention); (2) Multi-layered authority systems at local and international levels; and (3) Hybrid policy and governance.

Dr Seitanidi has published around 40 book chapters, reports and refereed journal papers in journals such as:

Journal of Management Studies

Journal of Business Ethics

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

Business and Society

She has also co-edited several special issues in leading journals Journal of Business Ethics, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Business and Society and Business and Society. From 2006-2019 she was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Review of Social Partnerships (ARSP), an annual international publication in cross-sector social partnerships research, contributing to translation research from theory to practice (50,000 direct recipients annually around the world on open access, catalogued at Ingenta Connect providing access to 1.4 million people internationally; 12,000 downloads per year).

In addition, she has published three books: a single authored book ‘The Politics of Partnerships’ (2010, Springer), co-edited a volume on ‘Social Partnerships & Responsible Business. A Research Handbook’ (2014, Routledge) and co-authored a book on ‘Creating Value in Nonprofit-Business Partnerships. New Thinking & Practice’ (2014, Jossey Bass).

Dr Seitanidi is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK (SFHEA). Her teaching and learning research interests are in Doctoral Supervision and the role of reflection in teaching.

She has developed several initiatives to support doctoral education including: Practice & Process Reading Group, AQR Seminar Series

Dr Seitanidi has served (2019-2021) as Executive Board member at EDAMBA (European Doctoral Programmes Association in Management & Business Administration), including as Chair of the Summer Research Academy Committee and as member of the AACSB-EDAMBA Task Force.

She has also served (2020-2023) on the PhD student journal Sentio published by SeNSS Doctoral Training Partnership (ESRC-funded) as Advisory Board Member.

Supervision Topics:

Cross-Sector Collaboration and Cross-Sector Social Partnerships (Formation, Implementation, Outcomes); Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Sustainability (focusing on society and nonprofit organisations as a stakeholders of business); Governance, Value Creation; Social Innovation, Collaborative Sustainable Business Models Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Issues in Management (including: social inclusion, poverty alleviation, health-related issues such as suicide prevention, medical service provision); Social Change.

Current Supervisees:

Somayeh Taromi Nejad Shirazi

Maxim Potepkin

Past Supervisees:

Dr Adetutu (Tutu) Oyerinde: Stakeholder Engagement Disclosures in Sustainability Reports as a Legitimation Mechanism for Image Restoration in Critical Incidents.

Dr Muntaser Melhem: Employee Performance Appraisal: A Process Perspective Of Institutional Logics and Routine Dynamics.

Dr Ngechop Yvonne Claire Ndifor: Microfinance and Community Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Cameroon.

Dr Aroob Alrifai: Stakeholders and Corporate Philanthropy in a Developing Country of Intense Religious Beliefs, Values & Norms.

Dr Yoojin Jang: Nonprofit-Business Partnerships and Network ties.

Dr Lamberto Zollo: Cross-sector interactions between Governmental Institutions and Nonprofit Organizations in Italy.

Dr Julia Helena Diaz Ramire: Decision Making Processes of SMEs for Partnering with Civil Society Organisations in Colombia.

Dr Janna Steadman: Understanding The Nature and Extent of Relationships Between Conservation NGOs and the Corporate Sector.

Dr Maria Jesus Baroso Mendez: The Role of Learning in Cross-sector Social Partnerships.

Dr Ioannis Gkliatis: Corporate Governance and Strategy.

Dr Maria Argyropoulou: Measuring the impact of Enterprise Systems on organisational performance. 

2025-present Centre for Healthy Empowered Communities Board of Directors member (nonprofit organisation focusing on the support of research and development projects for the health and social care sectors).

2025-present NHS England, NHS Leadership Academy Coaching Mentoring Hub, Reflection Coach to NHS leaders.

2018-2025 Trustloop, Germany. Advisory Board member providing advice on social issues and cross-sector social partnership implementation.

2024-present Coaching Association UK (CA): Co-Coaching Facilitator, Health and Social Care co-coaching group.

2023-2026 External Examiner, MBA Programmes, Nottingham Business School, University of Nottingham.

2019-2021 External examining subject expert in CSR, Birkbeck, University of London.

2023-present External member of All-party Parliamentary Group for Suicide and Harm Prevention (AAPG SSHP).

2023-2026 Chair/Member, Academic Accreditation Panel on behalf of the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education for number postgraduate and undergraduate programme reviews in Business Administration and Management, Shipping, Project Management, Tourism, Administration and Management of Health and Social Care Services, Ports Management & Shipping, Smart & Resilient Cities and Total Quality Management, Hotel Management, Air Transport Management across leading Greek universities (including National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University of Piraeus, University of Thessaly, International Hellenic University, University of Western Attica; University of the Aegean).

Visiting Appointments:

2021-2024 Visiting Professor, University of Northampton, UK.

2020-2023 Visiting Professor in Corporate Social Responsibility, Coal City University, Nigeria.

2014-2022 Visiting Professor in Professor in Corporate Social Responsibility, Luiss Business School, Italy.

2020-present Affiliate, Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC), University of Kent.

Executive Education

Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan: (USAID funded project coordinated by JE Austin Associates on research funding and commercialization).

Alfanar Construction Saudi Arabia (power generation and transmission projects, water treatment facilities company; training on Strategic CSR).

Grundfos Foundation, Denmark.

Grundfos (Danish leading pump and motor manufacturer; institutionalisation of partnerships and partnership challenges).

UPJ, Germany (leading German national network of engaged businesses and local non-profit organizations, training on conflict in social partnerships).

William Jackson Food Group, UK (leading food manufacturer, CSR and partnerships).