Rate My Professor Elizabeth Nichols

Dr. Elizabeth Nichols is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Management at the University of Otago's Otago Business School. She earned her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2018, with a thesis titled "Managers’ understandings of the practice of sustainability: A practice theory approach." Her academic qualifications also include an MCM (Hons) and BCom from Lincoln University, and a DipHSc from the University of Otago. Prior to joining Otago, she taught and coordinated courses at the University of Queensland in Australia and Lincoln University in New Zealand.

At Otago, Nichols serves as Director of the Master of Sustainable Business programme and Chair of the Department of Management Teaching and Learning Committee. She is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Management Education and an Academic Board member at CHC in Brisbane, Australia. Her research focuses on business and sustainability, drawing from her PhD on managers' understandings of sustainability practices, and on management education to enhance student experiences via interactive methods like field trips and team-building. Key publications include "Spirituality and sustainable development: A systematic word frequency analysis and an agenda for research in Pacific Island countries" (Sustainability, 2023, co-authored with Luetz et al.) and "How to serve sustainability performance in businesses? An appetizing recipe to link practices to performance in business sustainability research" (Business Strategy & the Environment, 2021, co-authored with Imbrogiano). She has ABDC-ranked publications in sustainable business and teaching and learning, with conference presentations at events like the Academy of Management annual meeting. Nichols has received teaching awards, including the Excellence in Teaching award (joint) from Otago Business School in 2024, and others from Otago and Queensland. She teaches courses including Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Practice (ENTR212), Managing for Performance (MANT101), International Management (MANT217), and Managing People (MANT250).