Business School academics recognised in 2018 promotions

Dr Ileana Stigliani

Two academics from Imperial College Business School were among staff across the College to receive promotions to mark the start of the new term.

Dr Ileana Stigliani and Dr Elena Dalpiaz have both been promoted to Associate Professor.

Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School said: “I’m delighted to offer a huge congratulations to Ileana and Elena on their achievement. Both are fantastic contributors to the Business School and we are very happy to have them among our faculty.”

Leader in Design Thinking 

Dr Ileana Stigliani has been promoted to Associate Professor of Design and Innovation. Dr Stigliani is an expert in Design Thinking, which she teaches on the Business School’s MBA programmes. Design Thinking is a method of coming up with creative solutions to business challenges.

Dr Stigliani’s current research focusses on understanding the cognitive side of innovation, and how teams of creative workers can develop new ideas. In future, she is looking to investigate the latest trends in the design consulting world. 

Earlier this year she was named as one of the world’s "Best 40 under 40 professors" by Poets & Quants, a leading international business education publication, alongside Dr Paolo Taticchi, for her outstanding teaching contribution to the Business School.

Reflecting on her proudest career achievements at Imperial, Dr Stigliani said: “I was delighted to create a partnership with design firm IDEO to establish a design thinking award for my MBA students. Moreover, I have created a strong network of contacts amongst design consulting firms in London. This not only allows me to pursue my research interests and publish in top management journals, but also to share the outcomes of my research with my students.”

Dr Stigliani is planning to help Imperial College Business School become a thought-leader in Design Thinking for businesses, both from the teaching standpoint and the research one.

She said: “My dream would be to create a centre producing cutting-edge research on the impact of Design Thinking for business in partnership with design consulting firms and companies who have pioneered the application of Design Thinking as a way to develop successful innovations.”

Asked what advice she would give new academics at the start of their career, Dr Stigliani said: “Choose your research interests based on what you’re truly passionate about, and choose co-authors who have the same time urgency as you.”

Leader in Strategy

Dr Elena Dalpiaz has been promoted to Associate Professor of Strategy. Her research focusses on issues relating to organisational change and strategy in established companies and new ventures.

She is currently focussing on how innovation can help enhance traditional crafts such as Venetian gondola-making. She’s also researching how innovative start-ups can recover their reputation after having misled customers and investors.

Describing what she’d like to do in future, she said: “I want to investigate how big businesses can help combat the current wave of commercial globalisation by helping individual countries to develop new products and services that appeal to local customers and help regions retain their distinct identity.”

When asked about what she most likes about working at Imperial she said: “I feel grateful for the tremendous amount of support the College offers its staff, particularly with support for female academics returning from maternity leave. As a European citizen, I was also impressed by the reassurance offered by the College to the academic community in the aftermath of the EU referendum vote.”

Asked what advice she’d offer to academics at the start of their career, Dr Dalpiaz said: “Follow your intuition about what is important to your research and the publications will follow.”