Felicity Kelliher

Prof. Felicity Kelliher is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Business, SETU and Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Shanghai University. She specializes in action research and longitudinal interpretive methods, focusing on management capability development in SMEs, particularly in rural contexts. As Co-chair of the RIKON research group, she has secured over €10M in research funding since 2007, leading projects like the G-RISE initiative exploring gendered rural innovation systems. Her academic roles include visiting professorships at institutions such as the University of Missouri and Grand École (France), and she has developed pioneering programs like the DBA and Change Management MBS at SETU.

Education:

• PhD, Queen's University Belfast (2006)
• Executive MBA (Hons), Smurfit Graduate Business School (1999)
• Prince 2 Project Management Accreditation (1999)
• Bachelor of Business Accounting (2.1 Hons), 1993

Research Interests: Prof. Kelliher’s work centers on SME innovation, rural economic development, leadership dynamics, and the intersection of entrepreneurship with sustainable development goals. Her research often involves collaboration with industry, government, and academic partners globally.

Awards:

• British Academy of Management Companion Award (2019)
• IFSAM Outstanding Service Award (2022)
• Prix de la Délégation générale du Québec à Londres (2021-2022)

Advising & Grants: She has guided over 60+ MBA/MSB action research projects and led projects such as the €10M RIKON portfolio. Current grants include the G-RISE study (2024-2028) and Comhar Comaraigh rural regeneration initiative.

Labs/Teams: Co-founder and Chair of RIKON, a leading group in innovation systems research with over 1,600 industry partnerships.