Dr Jane S. Christie

Dr Jane S. Christie is an expert in the theory and practice of multimethodology, specifically how consultants choose and combine quantitative and qualitative methods to support strategic decision-making. She is based out of Genoa, Italy.

Jane has received funding from the ESRC, EPSRC, and Dstl. She was a Michel Scholar at The University of Oxford.

Jane is a peer reviewer for the European Journal of Operational Research (ABS 4, 2019-present). She has peer-reviewed for Edward Elgar (book chapter, 2021), Sentio (interdisciplinary social sciences journal, 2021), Systems Research and Behavioral Science (ABS 2, 2017-2020), and for Palgrave and Taylor & Francis (book proposals, 2016-2017).

Jane is a member of The British Academy of Management (BAM), The British Psychological Society (BPS), Istituto Italiano di Project Management (ISIPM), Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA), The OR Society, The Project Management Institute (PMI) and its Northern Italy Chapter, and SCiO (Systems and Complexity in Organisation).

Previously, Jane served as Co-Convenor, Communications Lead, and occasional Chair of The Kent Business School Research Colloquium. She has designed and presented training for researchers at Kent Business School on research impact, and developed and delivered interactive sessions on business topics for local school and access students to remove barriers to equality in higher education.

Jane has degrees in Operational Research (PhD, Kent; MSc, LSE), Psychology (BSc Hons, Open), and Economics and Management (BA, Oxford).  

Jane’s research is about the methodological approaches that operational research and systems thinking practitioners use when they provide advice to senior executives and government ministers who are making decisions about organizational strategy. This includes why and how practitioners choose and combine qualitative analysis methods (such as problem structuring methods) and quantitative methods (such as optimization and simulation), including participatory approaches (such as facilitated workshops) and artificial intelligence (AI), and with what effects.
In her doctoral research, by operationalizing a philosophical approach called critical realism, Jane developed a new approach for investigating causation in the practice of operational research. This new approach facilitates in-depth, comparative analysis of practitioner case studies, and clears the ground for analysing the context, process and outcomes of any multimethod project. It can be used to understand causal complexity and evaluate project success. 

During her doctoral studies, Jane served as Trustee and Deputy Chair of the Board of a large UK charity in Kent. She was a member of the Finance and Risk Committee, the Remuneration Committee, and the 2017-2020 Strategy Project Team.
Previously, Jane was a Director in the UK member firm of one of the leading global professional services providers. She successfully directed and managed large-scale strategic global business transformation programmes. She has extensive international experience of consulting with executives in multinational organizations.
Jane is a Fellow (FCA) of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She is also an accomplished designer and facilitator of workshops, and a qualified project and programme manager.