About
Maria Hudson is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex, affiliated with the Essex Business School where she serves as Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) since 2023. She joined the university in 2016, bringing extensive experience from prior roles at the Policy Studies Institute, Queen Mary University of London, and the University of Cambridge.
Her research focuses on inequalities in work and society, including mental health management in workplaces, ethnic employment disparities, precarious labor, and qualitative methodologies. She has led impact-driven projects for Acas, ESRC, and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, addressing institutional racism, mental health support, and poverty dynamics.
Maria’s recent publications examine mental health policies, staff race networks, and migrant worker integration. Her methodological expertise spans action research, biographic narrative, and critical realist approaches. While no formal awards are listed, her work has been funded by multiple institutions, including ESRC Impact Acceleration Account and Acas.
She supervises PhD candidates in Human Resource Management and Organisation Studies and mentors postdoctoral researchers through the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) program. Maria actively engages employers and policymakers via workshops and action learning sets, promoting equitable practices in mental health and racial inclusion.
