Professor Dilshad Sheikh

Dean of the Faculty of Business 

Dilshad Sheikh joined the Faculty of Business in November 2020, marking Arden University’s first ever Dean. Dilshad brings an impressive 20 years of experience with her as an academic in the Higher Education sector, with her most recent role being the Dean of the Business School at University College Birmingham. 

Dilshad is also a CMI Companion and chairs the combined West Midlands and North West CMI regional board. This organisation aims to equip individuals from all backgrounds with the skills they need to achieve personal ambition, and positively impacts communities with opportunities for life-long learning.   

Dilshad will be responsible for building on Arden’s existing portfolio of business and healthcare management programmes, providing academic leadership and leading on the creation of the university’s planned new schools.

Dr. Alison Watson

Head of School of Leadership and Management

Dr. Alison Watson is the Head of School of Leadership and Management. Having taught at Arden for 15 years, she has supported many students on various management courses at all levels of study. Prior to this, Alison was an operations and project manager for a number of large retailers, and therefore has a wealth of experience in the field of business and management.

Stephanie West

Head of School 

Stephanie West joined Arden University in November 2020 as Head of the School of Healthcare Management. In addition to her wealth of healthcare industry experience, Stephanie has held a number of Senior Academic and Leadership positions in Health, Social Care and Applied Science faculties at a variety of universities across the UK. Stephanie will provide leadership to the School of Healthcare Management, ensuring that it delivers high quality academic provision and student satisfaction across all courses.

Dr Serkan Ceylan

Head of School of Project Management

Dr Serkan Ceylan joined us in 2021 as our Head of School of Project Management. Serkan was born in Hamburg, Germany, and moved to the UK in 2006. He has visiting Professorships/Lectureships in Germany, Spain, Finland and France, and has undertaken external examiner duties for Universities such as Lancaster University and the University of Bedfordshire. 

To date, Serkan has secured over £1,000,000 worth of research and enterprise grants from research bodies such as Research England and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, as well as securing PhD scholarships from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council. He is also a non-executive director for the International Project Management Consortium and acts as an APM board member for the WESSEX region. He is a published author of the book: AgileFrame® Understanding multifaceted project approaches for successful project management. 

Serkan will be responsible for restructuring our portfolio of project management courses, and raising Arden University’s profile within the industry through the development of close industry ties and future partnerships.

Dr. Geraldine Hall

Dissertation Supervisor

Dr. Geraldine Hall is the Dissertation Supervisor for Postgraduate Business. With a PhD, a PGCE and a BSc (Hons) degree under her belt, Geraldine has worked in the higher education sector for over 14 years, and is responsible for the management and academic delivery of our postgraduate business students.  

She previously taught at Cardiff Metropolitan University and the University of South Wales as a Senior Lecturer, and as the programme lead for the diploma stage of the part-time MBA programme and the MBA pathway in Sustainable Decision Making. Geraldine holds a PhD for her thesis on John Pearce’s Radical Social Enterprise and Alasdair MacIntyre’s ethics.

Hugh Smith

Deputy Programme Team Leader – Accounting and Finance 

Hugh Smith joined Arden University in April 2020 as a Deputy Programme Team Leader for undergraduate Accounting and Business. He has extensive experience in the banking sector; a diverse range of roles from customer services to sales management. But business and finance is not where Hugh’s experience ends, as he’s also previously taught students in tourism, travel and hospitality in the UK, Spain and Switzerland. Hugh’s qualifications include Professional Banking Qualifications, a BA (Hons) in Tourism Management, a PgC in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, a Masters in Research (Business and Management) and qualifications in Project Management. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr. Chuma Osuchukwu

Programme Team Leader 

Dr. Chuma Osuchukwu is a former diplomat, a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, a certified Management Consultant, an Affiliate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management, a Consultant Leadership practitioner, an entrepreneur, and an academic. So, in short, he has a lot of expertise and experience!  

Chuma has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK since 2003. His specialism is in leadership, and he’s now a Programme Team leader for The Faculty of Business, teaching leadership and several other business modules to undergraduate and MBA students. 

Andrew Howard

Lecturer 

Andrew Howard is a practitioner-academic with a wide range of substantial experience in IT, manufacturing, commerce (particularly retail), local government and education. Alongside his full-time role at Arden University, he is also a long-standing Associate Lecturer with the Open University Faculty of Business and Law. Andrew’s background allows him to deliver across all levels of the Arden Business programme from Foundation to Postgraduate, most recently in the areas of CSR, Change Management and Knowledge Management, as well as Project, Operations and Supply Chain Management.  

Dominic Appiah

Lecturer 

Dominic Appiah is a business lecturer at Arden University, where he leads various modules including International Marketing, The Structure of Business, and Contemporary Management Issues. Before joining Arden University, he was the global network learning coordinator at Pittsburgh University’s London Campus.  

Dominic holds a PhD in marketing, an MBA from the University of Wales and a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Philosophy) from the University of Ghana. His expertise lies in offshore business development and international marketing.  

Dominic has published extensively in academic books and journals, collaborated with leading researchers and has presented papers at several recognised international conferences. He’s also an associate fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Chartered Institute of Insurance and the British Academy of Management.

Tobias Stahler

Lecturer

Tobias Stähler’s experience includes corporate communications roles in both management and higher education. For over nine years, he has taught international students in a variety of management-related subjects. He also worked as a PR freelancer for several different industries, from food and beverages to public health. Tobias is also a fully trained merchant in wholesale and foreign trade, and holds a Masters’ in Sociology, Communication Sciences and Cultural Anthropology. His research and publications are focused on political and organisational communications and qualitative empirics. Outside of this, Tobias is extremely passionate about badminton, food and hiking around the Scottish Highlands.

Dr. Sara Ravan Ramzani

Lecturer 

Dr. Sara Ravan Ramzani’s work in academia has mostly been in finance, business, marketing and economics. Since 2015, she has taught at several local and international universities in Berlin, while also teaching and managing the compliance unit at the Centre of Postgraduate Studies.  

Sara’s background also includes reviewing proposals for new academic programs and revisions of existing programs to establish new and modern structures.  

Professor Wilson Ozuem

Lecturer 

Professor Wilson Ozuem’s general area of expertise lies in digital marketing and fashion marketing. His specific research and interests are all about understanding the emerging computer-mediated marketing environments and the impact this has on the fashion industry.  

Wilson has successfully supervised 21 PhD/DBA students to completion and is acknowledged as one of the International leaders in the study of digital marketing and multichannel retailing. His insightful research has been published in key journals, including the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Information Technology and People, Psychology and Marketing and many more. 

Ian McPhee

Lecturer 

Ian McPhee has over 28 years’ worth of experience in authoring, teaching, lecturing, supervising and assessing at postgraduate and undergraduate study with Arden University’s Marketing department. Ian’s specialisms include Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship and Marketing, so he brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge with him when it comes to guiding and advising students through their marketing qualifications. When he isn’t busy teaching, Ian is a keen cyclist, and is a member of his local cycling club.

Jill Hamilton

Lecturer 

The first eight years of Jill Hamilton’s working life were in accounting roles for the public sector, before she eventually made the move into accounting software roles. In 2006, she realised that her passion was in teaching others and helping students learn about the world of accounting. Once she was in this setting, Jill branched out into teaching many subjects that she found interesting, allowing her to add value to each programme she taught by bringing a wealth of professional experience with her. Outside of teaching, Jill likes to keep fit, is an avid bookworm and loves to socialise with family and friends.

David Harris

Lecturer 

David Harris is a lecturer at Arden University’s Manchester campus. He delivers a range of blended learning business modules, and is also responsible for leading seven online learning HND travel and tourism modules and two Arden BA Tourism modules. Outside of this, he’s heavily involved in delivering Business degree apprenticeship modules to students. With a wealth of experience in industrial, retail, service, hospitality, transport and vocational business, David has been the perfect fit for Arden since joining us in 2017.  

Dr. David Newton

Lecturer 

Whilst now semi-retired and working only with research students at Arden University, Dr. David Newton is an experienced researcher, senior manager, management consultant and trainer. He specialises in strategic planning, resource management and more broadly in management development and mentoring. He has extensive experience - both in the UK and internationally - leading projects for blue chip companies, small and medium sized enterprises and public bodies, including World Bank, the EU and national government departments. 

Since moving into a full-time consultancy role, David continues to be a visiting professor of Strategic Management. He sits on three editorial boards of international journals and has a great deal of experience as a board member of a number of private companies, as well as government and charitable agencies.

Michael Olusoji

Lecturer 

Michael Olusoji has an extensive background, working for over a decade as a writer and teacher in Accounting and Business Management. He is the author of Bookkeeping Made Simple, The Verdict and Andrew the Delinquent, and is also a Qualified Assessor and IQA - with many years' experience in teaching and assessing vocational qualifications at all levels.   

Michael holds three Masters’ qualifications with Merit. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management, Fellow Institute of Financial Accountant, Fellow Association of International Accountant (Acad) and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He is presently working towards his Doctorate.  

Dr. Syed Ali Tarek

Lecturer 

Dr. Syed Ali Tarek is a trained Computer Engineer and a business graduate with a PhD in Education Management. He’s been educated in a number of UK Higher Education institutes and works closely with these organisations to share his multi-dimensional knowledge. He is actively engaged in research and academic appointments, is a persuasive public speaker and is passionate about disseminating world-leading research to a wider audience, including UK universities, learned societies, scholarly conferences and international agencies such as the UN.  

Since 2016, Syed has received a number of national and international awards, mostly based on his exceptional research to elevate disadvantaged people in getting technology training. 

Dr. Phungmayo Horam

Academic Lead - Berlin 

Dr. Phungmayo Horam is an Academic Lead at Arden University Berlin. He is a resource economist with a PhD and over four years’ experience in project implementation. Phungmayo specialises in the application of economics, legal frameworks, transaction risks in the renewable energy sector and project management.  

Phungmayo takes great pleasure in collaborating with students and inspiring them to think and question the status quo. In his free time, he enjoys playing badminton, cycling and facilitating discussion on sustainable development through the Sustainability Discourse Berlin discussion forum.