Dr Evy Sakellariou
Faculties, departments and locations
- Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
- Department of Strategy, Marketing and Innovation
- Ȧ Business School
- Ȧ Hill
Associate Professor of Creativity and Innovation, Gen AI Innovation Lead Foresight & Creativity Hub
- Email:
- [email protected]
About
I am an Associate Professor (Reader) of Creativity and Innovation, PG Course Director and Gen AI Innovation Lead at the Foresight and Creativity Hub at Ȧ Business School. My research explores the intersections of creativity, innovation and foresight; and most recently through the lenses of emerging technologies and human-led Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI). I am the Founder and Chair of the Think Tank 'Women4AInnovationFutures', an incubator of new ideas and a broker of new knowledge in the areas of human-centred and future-focused Gen AI for female leadership. My research outputs have been published in World Elite (50 Top Financial Times) and leading academic journals such as Organization Science, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Creativity and Innovation Management.
Previously, as an award-winning senior leader at Unilever, FTSE 100, I was responsible for Portfolio P&L at a country level. I have built deep expertise in innovation and marketing-led strategy, data-driven insights, and customer engagement. For my achievements, I have been awarded the Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK and the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange, the UK professional body for innovators.
I am a Senior Faculty member of the Doctoral and Scientific Committees of the International Product Development and Management Conference (IPDMC), hosted by the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, in Brussels.
Qualifications
- Doctorate in Business Administration, School of Management, University of Surrey UK (Unilever funded studentship)
- MBA, School of Business, Loyola University of Chicago USA (Honors Degree) (Module student scholarship)
- BBA, School of Business Administration, University of Pireaus Greece (Class Valedictorian)
- Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (2021); Fellow Higher Education Academy (2018)
- RISE Research Leadership Academy KU Graduate (2023)
- Fellow Institute of Innovation and knowledge Exchange (2022), the UK professional body for innovators
- Certified Management and Business Educator (2022)
- Fellow Chartered Institute of Marketing
Domains
Modules taught:
BS 7603 Entrepreneurship and Growth of Innovative Businesses
BS 6205 International Entrepreneurship in SMEs
BS 4203 Innovation Management
BS 7610 Research Project and Research Proposal (Dissertation)
BQ 7804 Advance Qualitative Research (visiting)
BS 7603 (with Gen AI) Achievement of the Year 2024: Ranked Top 5 in Student Evaluations Across All Ȧ Modules
Impact Award Nomination for the Year 2020: Ȧ London
Runner up Lecturer of the Year 2019: Ȧ Business School
Qualifications
- Senior Fellowship Higher Education Academy
Courses taught
Senior Faculty: Doctoral Worskhop series of the International Product Development and Management Conference (IPDMC), hosted by the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, in Brussels.
Senior Faculty: Scientific Committee of the International Product Development and Management Conference (IPDMC), hosted by the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, in Brussels.
Track Chair: Foresight for Innovation Management, of the International Product Development and Management Conference (IPDMC), hosted by the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, in Brussels.
Co-Editor: Journal Research-Technology Management, Special Issue on 'Foresighting, Imagining, and Crafting Desirable Futures'.
Chair and Organiser: 1st Symposium of ‘Underground Creativity and Innovation' 2020 , Co-Organiser and Scientific Committee 2021-Current.
Co-Organiser: Symposium ‘Positive Norm Violation' Academy of Management 2021
Best Paper Track Award 2016 Innovation and Product Management Development Conference, invited for journal submission.
PhD topics:
- Underground (hidden) creativity and organisational paradoxes
- Storytelling and future-oriented sensemaking for the early start of innovation
- Playfulness and Artificial Intelligence for future-oriented innovation
- Artificial Intelligence and collective tacit knowledge for creativity
- The interrelationship of strategic foresight and creativity for innovation management
Qualifications
- REF 21 & REF 27 Internal Review Panel member
- Gen-AI Innovation Kickstarter Award Winner: The Trusted Innovation Gen AI Mentor
Specialisms
- Foresight for Creativity & Innovation Management
- Front End of NPD
- Underground (hidden, deviant) Creativity and Innovation
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Generative Artificial Intelligence
Scholarly affiliations
- University of Surrey UK
- Loyola University of Chicago USA
- British Academy of Management
- Academy of Management, New York
- European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, Brussels
Think Tank 'Women4AInnovation Futures'
- The Think Tank aims to advance collective thinking under uncertainty how women leaders can become trailblazers thereby capturing Gen AI's enormous value potential for their organisation's innovation performance.
- This perspective is informed by the Founder's scholarly research that advocates the significant roles of human-centricity and future-orientation for managing the innovation process to achieve successful long-term performance.
- The Think Tank produces bi-monthly thought pieces by bringing together diverse perspectives from the industry with academia.
Invited Talks:
Ȧ Borough Large Employers Forum, London (2024): ‘Transforming the Future: Gen AI, Skills, and Leadership'
COMIT Projects Innovation Conference Brighton (2024): ‘ Constructing Futures: Blueprinting Innovation Capability in Uncertain Times'
Qualifications and expertise
- Innovation and Diversification Strategy
- Commercial and Financial Acumen
- Consumer Behaviour and Insight-Driven Concept Development
- Gen Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Management
Professional and scholarly affiliations
- Institute of Directors UK
- Women on Boards UK
- Comit2 Projects
- Unilever Alumni
- Birds Eye Walls Alumni
Course Director: MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship
Founder and Chair: Think Tank 'Women4AInnovation Futures':
Recruited a core team of senior female leaders from FTSE 100 & SMEs including Unilever, Salesforce, British Telecom, Hays, KPMG, BP Collins, Eku Energy, Chicken & Egg, and others.
Leading governance including vision, mission, values, and strategic roadmap.
Qualifications and expertise
- Breadth of Diversity of Senior Leadership Experience
University responsibilities
- PG Course Programme Leadership: design, planning, management and review
- Foresight & Creativity Research Hub Training Co-Ordinator: mentoring, building up of new competencies and skills, and dissemination of new knowledge
- PG and UG Module Leadership: design, delivery and review
Public and Civic roles
- Comi2Projects Advisor to the Innovation Committee
Publications
Creativity and the arts of disguise : switching between formal and informal channels in the evolution of creative projects
Mainemelis, Charalampos and Sakellariou, Evy, 2023, Organization Science (34), 1, pp 380-403
Foresight, sensemaking, and new product development : constructing meanings for the future
Sakellariou, Evy and Vecchiato, Riccardo, 2022, Technological Forecasting and Social Change (184), pp 121945
Video-ethnography during Covid-19 and beyond : generating user foresights in a virtual world
Sakellariou, Evy, Karantinou, Kalipso and Goffin, Keith, 2021, Technological Forecasting and Social Change (169), pp 120817
From 'user insights' to 'user foresights' : applying video-based ethnographic narratives and user innovation in NPD
Sakellariou, Evdokia, Karantinou, Kalipso and Goffin, Keith, 2020, Technological Forecasting and Social Change (153), pp 119873
Storytelling workshops : a tool for breakthrough product innovation
Sakellariou, Evy, Goffin, Keith and Mariakaki, Agnes, 2018, The European Business Review, pp 26-29
"Telling tales" : stories, metaphors and tacit knowledge at the fuzzy front-end of NPD
Sakellariou, Evy, Karantinou, Kalipso and Goffin, Keith, 2017, Creativity and Innovation Management (26), 4, pp 353-369
Μάρκετινγκ: Δαπάνη ή Προστιθέμενη Αξία στην Επιχείρηση εν Καιρώ Κρίσης; 1ο Βαρόμετρο Μάρκετινγκ» – Αναμενόμενα και Παράδοξα [= 1st barometer of marketing marketing : expense or value added to business in times of crisis?]
Sakellariou, Evdokia and Theodoridis, Prokopis, 2015, Marketing Week
Managing the global front end of NPD: lessons learned from the FMCG industry
Sakellariou, Evy, Karantinou, Kalipso and Poulis, Konstantinos, 2014, Journal of General Management (39), 2, pp 61-81
Individual innovation and creativity : an interdisciplinary mapping of creative cognition
Vallée-Tourangeau, Gaëlle, Sakellariou, Evy and Szigetvári, Fanni (2023). In: Ball, Linden, (eds.) and Vallée-Tourangeau, Frédéric, (eds.), Handbook of Creative Cognition. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge
Case study 8.10: Intracom Telecom - strategy through process
Sakellariou, Evy, Goffin, Keith and Mitchel, Rick (2016). Innovation management : effective strategy and implementation. London, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 336-337
Inquiry from the inside : a case study of participant observation
Sakellariou, Evy (2013). In: Frangos, Christos C., (ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference : Quantitative and Qualitative Methodologies in the Economic and Administrative Sciences. Athens, Greece: Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens, pp 438-442
Reimagining learning in the age of gen AI : a call for co-evolution
Sakellariou, Evy, Banham, Georgette, Blackley, Emma, Connell, Emma, Kemsley, Clare, Kerr, Karen, Medhat, Michelle, Naskou, Efi, Pena Rios, Anasol, Sakkou, Valia and Storr, Madeleine (2025). (Women4AInnovation Futures)
Bridging intuition and innovation : a nuanced approach for female leaders integrating gen AI in decision-making
Sakellariou, Evy, Banham, Georgette, Blackley, Emma, Connell, Emma, Kemsley, Clare, Kerr, Karen, Medhat, Michelle, Naskou, Efi, Pena Rios, Anasol, Sakkou, Valia and Storr, Madeleine (2024). (Women4AInnovation Futures)
Female leadership for gen AI-enabled creativity and collaboration : transforming team resistance into resilience
Sakellariou, Evy, Banham, Georgette, Blackley, Emma, Connell, Emma, Kemsley, Clare, Kerr, Karen, Medhat, Michelle, Naskou, Efi, Pena Rios, Anasol, Sakkou, Valia and Storr, Madeleine (2024). (Women4AInnovation Futures)
Breaking the barrier : why non-technical women leaders fear and mistrust gen AI?
Sakellariou, Evy, Banham, Georgette, Blackley, Emma, Connell, Emma, Kemsley, Clare, Kerr, Karen, Medhat, Michelle, Naskou, Efi, Pena Rios, Anasol, Sakkou, Valia and Storr, Madeleine (2024). (Women4AInnovation Futures)
The future is now : embracing generative artificial intelligence to revolutionise assessment strategies
Sakellariou, Evy(2024). In: Festival of Learning 2024, 20 Jun 2024 :Ȧ upon Thames, U.K.
Creativity and the art of disguise : switching between formal and informal channels in the evolution of creative projects in large organizations
Sakellariou, Evy(2023). 23 Jun 2023 : Ȧ upon Thames, U.K.
Kocheva, Nataliya and Sakellariou, Evy(2023). In: Festival of Learning 2023, 22 Jun 2023 :Ȧ upon Thames, U.K.
The evolution of a regional innovation system through emerging technologies : a complexity theory perspective
Acur, Nuran, Sakellariou, Evy, Carbajal Pina, Carlos and MacLean, Donald(2023). In: 30th Innovation and Product Development Management Conference, 07-09 Jun 2023 :Lecco, Italy
A systematic literature review of three decades of research on the front end of NPD
Papastamatiou, Giorgos, Karantinou, Kalypso, Sakellariou, Evy, Gkaintatzis, Athanasios and Trompeta, Maria(2023). In: 30th Innovation and Product Development Management Conference, 07-09 Jun 2023 :Lecco, Italy
Foresight, sensemaking, and new product development : constructing meanings for the future
Sakellariou, Evdokia and Vecchiato, Riccardo(2022). In: Ȧ FBSS Faculty Research Conference 2022, 01 Jul 2022 :Ȧ, Ȧ upon Thames, UK
Creativity and the arts of disguise : Switching between formal and informal channels in the evolution of creative projects. Publication challenges and responses
Sakellariou, Evy and Mainemelis, Charalampos(2022). 21 Apr 2022 : Held online
The group contract for employability : a new approach to manage common problems found in group work
Sakellariou, Evy(2021). In: Ȧ Employability Summit, 10 Mar 2021 :Held online
Switching between formal and informal channels in creative project evolution
Mainemelis, Charalampos and Sakellariou, Evy(2020). In: 80th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM 2020), 07 - 11 Aug 2020 :Held online
The group contract : a new approach to managing common problems found in group work
Sakellariou, Evy(2020). In: Festival of Learning 2020, 23 Jun 2020 :Ȧ, U.K.
Navigating formal and informal trajectories in complex creative projects
Mainemelis, Charalambos and Sakellariou, Evy(2019). In: British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference 2019 : Building and Sustaining High Performance Organisations in Uncertain Times : Challenges and Opportunities, 03 - 05 Sep 2019 :Birmingham, U.K.
Storytelling method for critical thinking in teaching and learning practice
Sakellariou, Evy(2019). In: Festival of Learning 2019, 25 Jun 2020 :Ȧ, U.K.
Future oriented sensemaking for customer insight in NPD
Sakellariou, Evdokia, Karantinou, Kalipso and Goffin, Keith(2019). In: 10th Annual Faculty Research Conference: Contemporary Issues in Business and Social Sciences in a period of uncertainty, 03 - 04 Jun 2019 :Ȧ upon Thames, U.K.
Future oriented group sensemaking: when customer insights emerge
Sakellariou, Evdokia, Karantinou, Kalipso and Goffin, Keith(2018). In: 9th Annual Faculty of Business Research Conference: Contemporary Issues in Business, 04 Jun 2018 :Ȧ upon Thames, U.K.
Creative leadership as a political act
Mainemelis, Babis and Sakellariou, Evy(2018). In: 2nd Workshop of the Centre for Research on Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Bath (CREI@Bath), 8-9 Mar 2018 :Bath, U.K.
Opening the black box of video-based ethnography
Sakellariou, Evdokia, Karantinou, Kalipso, Goffin, Keith and Anangostaki, Maria(2017). In: 24th Innovation and Product Development Management Conference (IPDMC), 11-13 Jun 2017 :Reykjavik, Iceland
Winning (or losing) in global product innovation
Sakellariou, Evdokia, Karantinou, Kalipso and Hogg, Margaret(2016). In: 23rd Innovation and Product Development Management Conference (IPDMC): “Crossing Borders and Boundaries: The Changing Role of Innovation/Entrepreneurship”, 12-14 Jun 2016 :Glasgow, U.K.
SECI or sensemaking : telling tales of eureka moments in NPD
Sakellariou, Evdokia, Karantinou, Kalipso and Goffin, Keith(2016). In: 23rd Innovation and Product Development Management Conference "Crossing Borders and Boundaries: The Changing Role of Innovation/Entrepreneurship", 12-14 Jun 2016 :Glasgow, U.K.
Customer insights: how managers use market research data to generate product ideas
Sakellariou, E., Karantinou, K. and Goffin, K.(2014). 15-17 Jun 2014 : Limerick, Ireland
An action research investigation of the global front end of NPD
Sakellariou, E., Karantinou, K. and Poulis, K.(2013). In: 20th International Product Development Management Conference (IPDMC) : "Re-enchanting Technology", 23-25 Jun 2013 :Paris, France
The success factors in the global front end
Sakellariou, Evy and Karantinou, Kalipso(2012). In: 41st European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Annual Conference 2012: Marketing to Citizens: Going beyond Customers and Consumers, 22-25 May 2012 :Lisbon, Portugal
Gallery of work
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The Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition Workshop
Co-creating at the London City Hall
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GlaxoSmithKline Experiential Visit
Learning about innovation & foresight at the GSK Headquarters in London
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MSc IME at Ȧ Business School
First day of playfulness and collaboration
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1st Symposium of Underground Creativity and Innovation
Expert panel discussion with award winning scholars and thought provoking researchers
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Science Museum London: The Future Starts Here
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First Amazon Fresh Ealing London: Experiential visit
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Level 39 Canary Warf London: Experiential Visit
Immersive experience into the leading community of 1,250 leaders in cybersecurity, fintech, retail tech and other
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IPDM Conference 2023 Lecco Italy
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IPDMC 2023 Foresight for Innovation Track
