Professor Joana Vassilopoulou

Department of Management

Joana Vassilopoulou is Professor of Management and Director of the Department of Management at UNIC Athens. Her expertise lies in Human Resource Management and workplace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), with a particular focus on the future of work, artificial intelligence in HRM, remote and hybrid work, precarity, gender and migrant labour. She holds a PhD from the University of East Anglia (UK) and a Diplom in Social Science from Universität Duisburg-Essen (Germany), both with distinction.

She has around 50 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Human Resource Management Journal, Work, Employment and Society, and European Management Review, as well as several books with Cambridge University Press and Emerald. She served for four years as Editor of Work, Employment and Society, and previously as Associate Editor of European Management Review and Editor-in-Chief of EMR’s Xenophobia Monitor. Her research has attracted more than £2.5 million in external funding from bodies including the OECD, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the European Academy of Management (EURAM), EU Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

Before joining UNIC Athens in 2025, she was Professor in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Head of the Organisations and People Department at Brunel Business School, Brunel University of London, and Senior Lecturer in Women in Organisations at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. She has also held senior roles as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, UN PRME lead and HRM Programme Director.

With over 20 years of research-led teaching at BA, MSc, MBA, doctoral and executive levels, she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, holds an ILM Level 5 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring and is a Certified MBTI Practitioner. She co-founded the Centre for Inclusion at Work in Athens and has delivered executive education and advisory work internationally for clients including the European Central Bank, ING Bank, Shell and Eastman Chemicals.

Key facts

Research areas: HRM; diversity, equity & inclusion; AI in HRM; remote & hybrid work; gender; migration and precarious work

Publications: c. 50 peer-reviewed outputs, 4 books (1 forthcoming), 3 journal special issues

Research funding: > €3 million (OECD, EURAM, EU Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, ECB)

Editorial: Editor, Work, Employment and Society (2021–2025); Associate Editor, European Management Review (2015–2021)

Doctoral: over 10 PhD students supervised; 40+ external PhD examinations

Recognition: AOM GDO Faculty Transnational Best Paper Award; Visiting Professor Scholarship, University of Sydney and University of Cape Town