Education

Michael completed an ESRC-funded doctorate in 2005 at Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences, on higher education and graduate employability. This was pursued further in an ESRC post-doctoral fellowship from 2005-2006 in the same department. He then moved to the Cardiff Business School to work on an ESRC-funded, multi-disciplinary project investigating leadership and leadership development in the public services in England. He took up his post as Lecturer in Educational Studies at Keele in 2008.

His research interests are at the interface between higher education and the labour market, with a focus on graduate employability and university to work transitions. He pursued this research in an ESRC-funded project on employability and career progression. He is also interested in changes in the academic labour market in the context of widespread policy-driven and cultural change in universities, and the bearing this has on academics’ career progression and identities. He is currently involved in an ESRC-funded, multi-disciplinary project exploring leadership and leadership development in the public services, and has cross-cutting interests in the changing notions of managerialism, professionalism, professional knowledge and identity.

Forthcoming

• Tomlinson, M. (2011) Access to Higher Education in England, in D. Mattheou (Ed) Access to Higher Education: Greek and International Perspectives (forthcoming)
• Wallace. M., Deem, R., Morris, J., O’Reilly, D, Reed, M., Tomlinson, M.  (2011) Developing Public Service Leaders: Change Agency, Mediators and Leaderism. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming)
• Tomlinson, M., Wallace, M. & O’Reilly, D. (2011) ‘Leadership Development in Secondary Schools’, in Wallace, M. et al Developing Public Service Leaders: Change Agency, Mediators and Leaderism. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming)
• Wallace, M., Tomlinson, M. & O’Reilly, D. (2011) The mediation of acculturation: orchestrating school leadership development in England, Educational Management Administration and Leadership (forthcoming)
• Tomlinson, M. (2010) Investing in the Self: structure, agency and identity in graduates’ employability, Education, Knowledge and Economy (forthcoming)

Undergraduate

• EDU-10033 Understanding Learning (Module Leader)
• EDU-20024 Education Matters:  Contemporary Issues and Debates in Education (Module Leader)
• EDU-30073 Work, Identity and Education (Module Leader)
• Dissertation Supervisor

Postgraduate

MBA (in Education) – tutor and supervisor

EdD – tutor and supervisor

Supplementary publication list

• Tomlinson, M. (2009) Higher Education and Graduate Employability. Saarbrücken, Verlag Dr. Müller
• Tomlinson, M. (2005) An overview of the labour market destinations and outcomes of Welsh domicile and Welsh HEI graduates. A Research Paper for the Independent Study into the Devolution of Student Support System and Tuition Fee Regime. Cardiff: National Assembly for Wales.

Conferences

• Tomlinson, M. (2009) ‘The employability and career progression of early career academics: towards a research agenda’. Paper presented at the European Educational Research Association Conference, Vienna, Sept, 2009
• Wallace, M & Tomlinson, M. (2008) ‘Contextualising Leader Dynamics: How Public Service Leaders Build Influence’ (Best Paper Award, Leadership Track) Paper presented at the British Academy of Management Conference, Harrogate, Sept., 2008.
• Tomlinson, M. ‘Graduate Employment and Employability in the Knowledge-Based Economy: challenges for higher education’. Paper presented at the European Educational Research Association Conference, Geneva, Sept., 2006.
• Tomlinson, M. ‘Higher Education and the Changing Graduate Labour Market in Wales’. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, University of Glamorgan, Sept., 2005.
• Tomlinson, M. ‘Human Capital, Employability and Student Orientations to Work and Careers’. Paper presented at British Educational Research Association Conference, Manchester Metropolitan University, Sept., 2004.