Principal Lecturer
PhD, Cert Ed (HE), DMS, BSc
Gail Sanders is Principal Lecturer responsible for learning and teaching development at Sunderland Business School.
Gail’s professional background is in pharmaceutical research. After gaining a first-class degree in chemistry she spent sixteen years working for a major international drug company. Following an initial spell in the laboratory she changed roles to help set up a new Quality Assurance function for her site. From there Gail continued in quality management,coordinating inspections by the UK Department of Health and the USA Food and Drug Administration and taking responsibility for the quality system training and development of colleagues throughout the company. During this time she worked extensively at sites in the USA and France. She supported her management role by continuing her formal education, completing a postgraduate certificate in quality management and then a DMS, for which she was awarded the Institute of Management Tom Verity prize for outstanding achievement in management studies.
In 1991 Gail accepted a position at the University of Sunderland to set up and deliver customised work-based programmes for the pharmaceutical industry. After two years she moved to the Business School to expand the scope of her work beyond her own professional field. Since then Gail has maintained a special interest in work-based and professional learning, and for many years has been involved in the development and delivery of work-based learning programmes both for her own faculty and for the institution, including most recently the university’s Professional Doctorate and the Business School’s DBA, for which she is programme leader. Other recent work has included leading a university-wide project on research informed teaching, and the development of a professional identity model to support the Business School’s vision of graduates for the 21st century.
Gail has acted as advisor to a Government office on entrepreneurship and work-based learning, and as Academic Specialist Advisor to the Open University for the development of overseas work-based programmes. She has been involved with a number of national learning enhancement projects, and is currently external examiner for an Open University work-based course.
Gail’s main research interests are in the areas of professional identity and authentic leadership. She has presented papers at international conferences in the USA, Europe and the Far East, and has contributed to a number of books and academic journals. She is currently a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching.
Gail has a PhD from the Department of Psychology at the University of Strathclyde and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.