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Owain Smolovic-Jones

I joined The Open University in November 2013, coming to work for a university I had long admired as one of the great British innovations and institutions.

Before entering academia I trained as a journalist, working at Media Wales for two years. I subsequently worked in politics, as a party press officer. It is in political life that I rediscovered my interest in study, pursuing a part-time MBA at Cardiff University. Academic research was a means of connecting my passions in life: study, the political, writing and above all else making a contribution to public life.

I was successful in 2008 in gaining a studentship to pursue a PhD on leadership development in the public sector, under the supervision of Professor Keith Grint at Cranfield, based at the UK Defence Academy.
After graduating I secured a Research Fellow position at the New Zealand Leadership Institute, University of Auckland. I spent two years in Auckland working on the practice side of leadership development, as well as pursuing teaching and research. I am committed to excellence in teaching and so pursued and obtained a PGCert in Academic Practice while at the University of Auckland.

My research focus is largely in the area of the political in leadership and its development. I am particularly interested in how political theory can contribute to our understanding of leadership.

My current focus at The Open University is on developing open-access leadership development for voluntary sector organisations, a venture approached from a political and democratic perspective.

In addition, I hold a growing interest in public and business ethics, in particular how ethical practice may be influenced by leadership practice, and vice versa.

Can quotas make gender equality happen in politics? Lessons from business

Sep 27, 2016 17:15 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business

The number of women MPs in the British parliament is the highest its ever been. There are 191 women among the 650 MPs, up a third from the 2010 election. This has to be good news, especially for the many critics of...

Economy

RBA Hikes Interest Rate to 4.60% as Inflation Risks Rise

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Tuesday, taking borrowing costs to their highest level in nearly 15 years as policymakers respond to persistent inflation and rising energy prices....

Asian Stocks Fall as Bond Yields and Oil Prices Surge

Asian stock markets fell broadly on Tuesday as surging U.S. Treasury yields, elevated oil prices and renewed pressure on technology shares dampened investor sentiment. Markets also awaited the Reserve Bank of Australias...

Asian Currencies Mixed as Yen Weakens, RBA Hike Looms

Asian currencies traded mixed on Tuesday, with the Japanese yen weakening toward recent lows as investors weighed intervention risks and the Bank of Japans policy outlook. The U.S. dollar remained near a two-month high,...

Gold Holds Near Seven-Week Low as Fed Rate Hike Bets Rise

Gold prices stabilized near a seven-week low on Tuesday after plunging 4% in the previous session, as elevated oil prices, rising U.S. Treasury yields and expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes continued to...

U.S. Stock Futures Steady as AI, Rate Concerns Weigh

U.S. stock futures were little changed Monday evening after Wall Street fell under pressure from elevated Treasury yields, concerns about slowing artificial intelligence development and persistent geopolitical tensions...

Politics

White House Blames Democrats as CLARITY Act Stalls

The White House and Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis have blamed Senate Democrats for the CLARITY Acts failure to advance, escalating partisan tensions over landmark U.S. cryptocurrency legislation. The Senate voted 49-50...

US Troops Set to Complete Iraq Withdrawal as Iran Influence Grows

US forces are expected to withdraw from their remaining bases in Iraq by Wednesday, completing a departure agreed in 2024 and raising concerns over Irans expanding influence and the potential resurgence of Islamic State....

Malaysia Begins Deportation of 1,500 Myanmar Nationals

Malaysia began deporting about 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday under a repatriation programme that has drawn objections from the United Nations and human rights organisations over safety concerns in conflict-hit...

Trump Denies Offering Iran Sanctions Relief for Nuclear Concessions

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday denied reports that his administration had offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for concessions on Tehrans nuclear program. This is untrue. I offered...

Rubio Warns Cuba to Change Course as US Pressure Mounts

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington hopes Cuba will pursue a different path, warning that Cuban officials should not expect to simply wait out President Donald Trumps administration without making changes....

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Anthropic Targets $2 Trillion Valuation in Planned IPO

Anthropic is preparing for a highly anticipated initial public offering that could value the artificial intelligence company at more than $2 trillion, putting investor enthusiasm for the booming AI sector and its massive...

Samsung Invests $1 Billion in KKR’s Helix AI Infrastructure

Samsung Electronics and five affiliates are investing a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new artificial intelligence infrastructure company backed by investment firm KKR, as Samsung expands deeper...

CSL Partners With AWS to Bring AI Into Drug Research

CSL has entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to integrate artificial intelligence and cloud computing across its research and clinical development operations, aiming to accelerate drug discovery and...

OpenAI Scraps GPT-6.1 Astra Launch Over Safety Concerns

OpenAI has canceled the planned release of GPT-6.1 Astra after internal testing raised concerns about the artificial intelligence models safety, alignment and ability to stay within authorized boundaries. The...

Pi Network Price Holds $0.087 as Protocol 28 Mainnet Upgrade Nears

Pi Network price traded around $0.0886 on September 28 as investors looked ahead to the Protocol 28 Mainnet upgrade scheduled for October 16. PI remained below the key $0.10 level amid broader weakness across the...