Laura Roper

Laura Roper is a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management at Bournemouth University, based at Dorset House on the Talbot Campus. Her roles include Deputy Chair (Communication) for the global LeanHE group and membership in a UK-wide Higher Education Community of Practice promoting institutional collaboration. She holds dual professional certifications as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Chartered Business and Management Educator.

Her research focuses on organizational culture transformation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and humanistic leadership within higher education contexts. Key areas include dismantling academic silos, embedding kindness as an organizational value, and applying Lean methodologies for continuous improvement. She has conducted doctoral research on staff social identity and inter-disciplinary barriers, contributing to the AACSB accreditation process through Hoshin Kanri frameworks.

Roper has presented at international conferences including SRHE and Society for Transnational Academic Researchers, delivering talks on hybrid education models, quality assurance across diverse sub-cultures, and leveraging communities of practice. She co-authored influential works such as the 2020 Ubuntu: Strengthening the heart of your team and the 2023 Embedding Hoshin Kanri for Continuous Improvement.

Her professional service includes journal peer review for Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies and organizing events like the Fusion Learning Conference. She leads the 2021 grant-funded initiative Putting the heart back into Higher Education, exploring hybrid working models through community engagement. Roper's work aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to quality education, health well-being, and decent work.