Professor Stephen Barber

Professor Stephen Barber

Head Of Department - Innovation And Management

Head of Department

Department of Innovation and Management , Royal Docks School Of Business And Law

Stephen Barber is Professor of Global Affairs and Head, Department of Innovation & Management. He is responsible for providing leadership for the department’s staff, portfolio of academic programmes, quality assurance, scholarship and contributing to university and school strategic plans.

Qualifications

  • BA
  • MA
  • PhD

Areas Of Interest

Prof. Barber’s academic interests sit at the intersection of political economy, public policy, government, business environment and public leadership. He has published widely on topics including the fourth industrial revolution, Brexit, governance and leadership.

Stephen is also a frequent contributor to television, radio and the press, having appeared in news programmes at home and internationally, including BBC 1, BBC World, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Radio 5, BBC local radio, Al Jazeera, CNN and other news outlets, including radio and television; from Australia to Canada and Greece to Singapore to Switzerland and Turkey. He is also available for interviews on topics such as government, economy, Brexit, budgets, G20, elections, and so forth.

Professor Stephen Barber

OVERVIEW

Before coming to UEL in 2023, Stephen was Assistant Dean in the Business School and then a Director (with university wide responsibility for curriculum design) at Regent’s University London. Here he was first awarded Professorial title in recognition of outstanding performance in scholarship, leadership and teaching.

Prior to this he was Director of MBA at the University of Bedfordshire, where he led a large, diverse and dispersed portfolio of programmes. He was Associate Professor in Public Policy at London South Bank University for eight years, where he led the Master’s in Public Administration and PGR.

RESEARCH AND IMPACT

Prof Barber’s research has supported contributions to numerous official inquiries, and he has appeared as an expert witness before a Commons Select Committee.

Stephen has also published and broadcast content on the merits of inaction in decision-making and the dangers of a bias to action. For BBC Radio 4, he wrote and presented a 30-minute documentary entitled ‘The Case for Doing Nothing’, based on his research.

He coordinated an Erasmus + project Modernising European Legal Education and has acted as a consultant for several commercial and not-for-profit organisations.

PUBLICATIONS

Authored books

  • Barber, S. Reclaiming the Revolution: extraordinary adventures in politics and leadership at the inflection point of industry 4.0, UBP, 2023
  • Barber, S. Westminster, Governance and the Politics of Policy Inaction: Do Nothing, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016
  • Barber, S. The Tragedy of Riches: how our politics has failed us and why we need a new economic destiny, University of Buckingham Press, 2011 (264pp)
  • Barber, S. Political Strategy: modern politics in contemporary Britain, Liverpool Academic Press, 2005 (264pp)

Edited books

  • Brassey, A. and Barber, S., (eds) Greed, Palgrave Macmillan, (foreword Nicola Horlick), 2009 (191pp)
  • Barber, S. (ed), The Geo-politics of the City, Forum Press, (foreword by Peter Jay), 2007 (239pp)
  • Barber, S. (ed), The City in Europe and the World, ERF, (foreword by Peter Mandelson), 2005 (210pp)

Chapters and sections

  • Hebing, M, Martinez, T. and Barber, S. "Human trafficking and the law: the importance of interdisciplinarity in learning and teaching." In International Workshop on cross-cutting topics in legal studies, pp. 29-43. Cham: Springer Nature, 2023.
  • Barber, S. ‘Britain in the World’, in Garnett, M. (ed) Handbook of British Politics and Society, Routledge, 2020
  • Murdock, A. and Barber, S. ‘Innovation in Products and Services’ in Murdock A. (ed) Private Action for Public Purpose, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 (p75-104)
  • Barber, S. Foreword to Glowrey, M. The Sterling Bonds and Fixed Income Handbook, Harriman House, 2013 (2pp)
  • Meyer, H. Barber, S. & Luenen, C. ‘The Open Method of Coordination: a governance mechanism for the G20?’, Bertelsmann Stiftung, November 2011 (20pp)
  • Barber, S. ‘Big Theme Investing’, in Stevenson, D. The Financial Times Guide to Exchange Traded Funds and Index Funds, Pearson, 2010 (p165-178)
  • Barber, S. ‘The Disputable Truth of Economic Greed’, in Barber and Brassey (ed), Greed, 2009 (p80-93)
  • Barber, S. ‘The Strategy of the British Liberal Democrats’, in Lees-Marshment, J., Political Marketing: principles and applications, Routledge, 2009 (p73-4)
  • Barber, S. ‘The Geo-Political Economy of the City’, in Barber, S. (ed) The Geo-Politics of the City, 2007 (p1-18)
  • Barber, S. ‘The Political Economy of the City’, in Barber, S. (ed) The City in Europe and the World, 2005 (p1-12)

Journals

  • Martinez, T and Barber, S. ‘Dissecting the Interplay Between Elected Members and Officials in Technology Decisions: the case of a local authority in England’, (in preparation 2023)
  • Barber, S. ‘Public Administration and the MBA Crossover: what is the case for more socialisation?’, International Public Management Review, 18 (2), 2018
  • Barber, S. ‘A Truly Transformative MBA: executive education for the fourth industrial revolution’ Journal of Pedagogic development, July 2018
  • Murdock, A. and Barber, S. ‘IPMR and public management: the next 18 years?’, editorial International Public Management Review, 18 (1), 2017 1-20
  • Barber, S. ‘Can Parliamentary Oversight of Security and Intelligence be Considered More Open Government than Accountability?, International Public Management Review, 18 (1), 2017 45-58
  • Barber, S. ‘The Brexit Environment Demands that Deliberative Democracy Meets Inclusive Growth’, Local Economy, 32 (3) May 2017, 219-239
  • Barber, S. & Jones, A. ‘Jumping off the Cliff’ editorial, Local Economy, 32 (3) May 2017 153-155
  • Barber, S. ‘London Exceptionalism and the Challenge of Brexit’, British Politics Review, 11 (3) Summer 2016. 22-23
  • Barber, S. & Luke, P. ‘Putting Theory into Theory: thematic value of research in public administration teaching’, Teaching Public Administration, 34 (1) March 2016, 96-108
  • Barber, S. ‘’Westminster’s Wingman’? Shadow Chancellor as a Strategic and Coveted Political Role’, Journal of British Politics, 11 (2) 2016. 184-204
  • Barber, S. ‘Addressing the Pedagogic Challenges of Enterprise in Delivering Public Administration Education’, Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, December 2014
  • Barber, S. Stretched but not snapped: constitutional lessons from the 2010 coalition government in Britain’. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 52(4),2014. 473-492.
  • Barber, S. ‘ Vietnam, Policy Inaction and the Wilson Government’, British Politics Review, 9(3), Sept 2014, 9-11
  • Barber, S. ‘Referendums and the British Experience’, British Politics Review, 9 (2), May 2014 13-14
  • Barber, S. Principles or practicalities? Salvaging House of Lords reform. Renewal: a Journal of Labour Politics, 22(1/2), 2014. 118-128.
  • Barber, S. Arise, Careerless Politician: The Rise of the Professional Party Leader. Politics, 34(1), 2014. 23-31.
  • Barber, S. ‘The Coalition and Constitutional Reform Revisited’, Amicus Curiae: Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, 95, Autumn, 2013 16-18
  • Barber, S. ‘Kicked in Touch: Football as a Proxy for Authenticity’, British Politics Review, 8 (2), May 2013. 3-5
  • Barber, S. Faioli, M.. Meyer, H. ‘A Social Dimension for Transatlantic Economic Relations’, Bulletin of Comparative Labour Relations, Number 77, 2011. 255-270
  • Barber, S., and Meyer, H. ‘Transatlantic Economic Relations as a Bridge’, Economia e Lavoro Journal, March 2011. 101-107
  • Barber, S., and Meyer, H. ‘Making Transatlantic Economic Relations Work’, Global Policy Journal, 2 (1), January 2011. 106-111
  • Barber, S. ‘Global Markets and the Limits of Political Decision Making’, Contemporary European Studies Journal, June 2007. 51-62
  • Barber, S. ‘The Flawed Strategy of the SDP’, Journal of Liberal History, Winter 2004. 12-15

EXTERNAL ROLES

Stephen has held external examining roles at City University and University College London.

He was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Cagliari in 2022.

Publications

The last four years of publications can be viewed below. 

Full publications list

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Research repository

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