The Learning, Management and Development Consultancy

Dr Francisca Alvarez Figueroa

CEO, Founder & Lead Consultant

Lecturer in Employment Studies | Associate Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion | Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE) | Fellow, Higher Education Academy

“My mission is to bridge research with inclusive learning, management and development practice, empowering learners from diverse backgrounds to succeed academically, professionally and personally”.

Strategic Learning  |  Inclusive Mentorship  |  Evidence-Based Development

Dr Álvarez-Figueroa is a multi-award-winning higher-education professional with a rich blend of academic and consultancy experience. She holds a PhD in Development Policy & Management (University of Manchester), an MSc in Human Resource Management (University of Liverpool) and a BSc in Psychology (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile).

She is a former Lecturer in Employment Studies at the University of Manchester and developed multiple roles, including Associate Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) within her academic community, Divisional Representative for the Artificial Intelligence working Group, EDI representative, and Divisional Representative of the Academic Advising working group.

She draws upon 15 + years of experience working as an HR & organisational development consultant, lecturer and researcher, delivering practical interventions alongside rigorous scholarship.


Expertise

  • Inclusive education & academic mentorship.
  • Learning & Development strategy.
  • Employment Studies, Organizational Behaviour, Organisational Psychology, fairness and decent work (including equal opportunities, Organizational Justice, Organizational Citizenship Behaviours and intersectional studies).  
  • Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) strategy and implementation.
  • Research-driven coaching for postgraduate international students.

Awards

  •  Best Paper Designation – Academy of Management Annual Meeting (2025). A paper titled “The Multilevel Configuration of Precarious Work and New Public Management in Chile” was selected as one of the best-accepted papers for the 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM) and published in the Conference Proceedings.
  • Highly Commended, Humanities Outstanding Staff Awards 2024. The University of Manchester. PGT dissertation supervisor of the year.
  • Commended, Teaching Excellence Awards 2023, The University of Manchester. Categories inclusive education and student voice.
  • Teaching Excellence 2023, Alliance Manchester Business School.
  • Commended for the 2022 University of Manchester “Making a Difference Awards for Social Responsibility”, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion category. Project: “Breaking the Glass: Understanding the barriers faced by Black Professional Women for their career progression”. A collaboration with She Leads for Legacy. Project: “Breaking the Glass: Understanding the barriers faced by Black Professional Women for their career progression”. A collaboration with She Leads for Legacy. Finalist for the 2021 Project Excellence Award, Collaboration Labs, The University of Manchester.

Teaching

  • Postgraduate and Undergraduate Dissertations.
  • Industry Placement Supervision.
  • Academic and Career Development.
  • Workplace Research & Analysis Skills (Research methods).
  • Equality diversity and Inclusion, Gender Development and fairness at work.
  • Organizational Behaviour and Organizational Development.
  • Human Resource Management, including: The HR function, cross-cultural management, leadership, teamwork, organisational change, EDI, social responsibility, ethics, psychological contract, financialization of work, organisational structure, work design, knowledge management, innovation and organisational learning, organisational culture, participation and fairness at work, AI, technology, and sustainable HRM.
  • Globalisation and Employment: The role of the nation-state in the process of globalisation; Multinationals, Transnational corporations, and employment in a global world; labour migration and global mobility; multinationals, winners and losers in globalisation, value chains and global production networks; globalising technology and implications for employment, AI, the platform and gig economy; sustainable employment in a globalised world.

Research

  • Research agenda tackles lived experiences of workers and organisational actors across multilevel contexts, applying frameworks from organisational behaviour, gender & intersectionality studies, development studies and HR.  
  • Focus areas: precarious employment, fair treatment, participation, organisational citizenship behaviours, change management, emerging workplace technologies, organisational culture, gender and intersectionality. 

Publications

Media

Invited talks and lectures

  • Guest Lecturer, Module “Training, Learning and Development”, MSc in HR Development, Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester, 16 and 24 October 2025.
  • Guest Speaker, “Breaking the Glass: Barriers faced by black professional women in the UK”, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Business School, 30 September 2025.
  • Panelist, “Gender, HRM and Precariousness at work”. Gender in Management Special Interest Group, British Academy of Management, 22 May 2024.
  • Guest Speaker, “Workshop: Labour relations in Latin America – Current challenges and future directions”, Work and Equalities Institute, The University of Manchester, UK, 30 April 2024.
  • Discussant, “50 years since the Chilean coup: its influence on labour relations”, Work and Equalities Institute, The University of Manchester, UK, 12 October 2023.
  • Guest Speaker, “Developing Systematic Literature Reviews” Dissertations in Organisational Psychology Module. School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile, 30 March 2022.
  • Guest Speaker, “Developing Systematic Literature Reviews”, PhD in Management. Business School, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile, 27 September 2022.
  • Guest Speaker, “Local Service of Public Education Puerto Cordillera (School district)”. Conference of School Principals, Coquimbo, Chile 2020.

Consultancy

  • International Consultant- Country Analyst for Mexico for the “Bridging Policies for Productivity and Decent Work” project, commissioned by the International Labour Organization and led by The Productivity Institute 2025.
  • Written Evidence to the UK Parliament, Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry on Female Entrepreneurship, UK Parliament, 25 March 2025 (Code: FEN0048).
  • Research Consultant, Sharon Amesu Consultancy. Topic: Organisational development 2024-2025.
  • 2021    Associate Research Consultant, Collaboration Labs, The University of Manchester. 
    • Project: “Breaking the Glass: Understanding the barriers faced by Black Professional Women for their career progression”. A collaboration with She Leads for Legacy.
    • Commended Award for the 2022 University of Manchester “Making a Difference Awards for Social Responsibility”, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion category.
    • Finalist for the 2021 Project Excellence Award, Collaboration Labs, The University of Manchester.