About
I am a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management at Derby Business School after previously working at Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University as Senior Lecturer in Business Management and Coventry Business School as Lecturer in Cyber Security Management.
With over a decade of lecturing experience, I have served in various course leadership positions, including providing mentorship to staff new to teaching in Higher Education. I am a visiting scholar at the Centre for Decision Analysis and Risk Management (DARM), Middlesex University, where I obtained my PhD in 2016.
With an MSc in Disaster Management and a PhD in crisis decision-making, my research explores the nexus between crisis management and decision-making in high-risk organisations. I have presented my research at both local and international conferences and also published in notable journals including risk research, management decision and CTW.
I hold the status of Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and currently serve as an external examiner to two UK universities. I sit on the editorial board of the American Business Review (ABDC category A journal) and also serve as an editor for the International Journal of Community Resilience.
Teaching responsibilities
I am involved with teaching in the following areas:
- Research Methods (UG, MSc, MBA)
- Strategic Risk Management (MBA)
- Business Psychology (Level 6)
- Business and Society (Level 4)
- Crisis and Business Continuity Management
- Global strategy
Professional interests
Editorial
Journal Editor - International journal of community resilience
Editorial Board Member - American Business Review (ABDC, Category A journal)
Journal Reviewer
- Administration and Society
- Contingencies and Crisis Management
- Development and Learning in Organisations: An International Journal
- Management Decision
- Intellectual Capital
- American Business Review
External Examiner
- External Examiner, MSc Crowd Safety and Risk Analysis, Manchester Metropolitan University, January 2021 – December 2024
- External Examiner, MSc Risk Management, Glasgow Caledonian University, September 2021-August 2025
Research interests
I have interest in the following research areas:
- Crisis Management and Decision-making
- Organisational resilience
- Risk Management
- Knowledge management
- Business Continuity Management
- Strategic Management
- Leadership
- Public sector management
PhD completion
Chiwuokem Nwoko - Thesis entitled 'An Integrated Model for Fraud Prevention Management in E-Retail: A Case for a Big Data-Enabled Approach’
Recent conferences
International Conference Proceedings (peer-reviewed)
Okoli, J. O., Weller, G., Watt, J., & Wong, B. L. W. (2013). Decision-making strategies used by experts and the potential for intuitive training skills: A preliminary study. In H. Chaudet, L. Pellegrin, & N. Bonnardel (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th international conference on naturalistic decision making (NDM 2013), Marseille, France, 21-24 May 2013 (pp. 227-232). Paris, France: Arpege Science
Okoli, J.O., Watt, J., Weller, G. (2016) Managing complex fires in urban environments: A tale of two cultures. In: International Conference on Urban Risks (ICUR 2016), 30 Jun - 02 July 2016, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 531-538
Watt, J., Ball, D and Okoli, J. (2016) Utilising expertise to manage dynamic urban risks. In: International Conference on Urban Risks (ICUR 2016), 30 Jun - 02 July 2016, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 123-129
International Conference Presentations
Okoli, J.O., Weller, G., Watt, J. (2013). Decision-making strategies used by experts and the potential for training intuitive skills: A preliminary study. Paper presented at the Annual Research Conference, Middlesex University, UK. (Awarded best PhD student, £100)
Okoli, J.O., Watt, J., Weller, G. (2014). Managing Risks and Uncertainties on the Fire Ground. Abstract presented at the Society for Risk Analysis conference, Istanbul Turkey, June 16-18.
Okoli, J.O and Watt, J. (2018) Dynamic risk assessment in the fire-fighting domain: the role of expert intuition. SRA-E 2018: Risk & Uncertainty – From Critical Thinking to Practical Impact. Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden, 18–20 June 2018
Recent publications
Okoli, J.O., Weller, G., Watt, J. (2014). Eliciting Experts' Knowledge in Emergency Response Organizations. International Journal of Emergency Services, 3 (2), pp. 118-130. [ABS 2*]
Okoli, J.O., Weller, G and Watt, J. (2016) Information filtering and intuitive decision-making model: Towards a model of expert intuition. Journal of Cognition, Technology and Work, 18 (1), pp 89-103 ABS 2* [IF: 2.372]
Okoli, J., Watt, J., Weller, G., & Wong, W. B. (2016). The role of expertise in dynamic risk assessment: A reflection of the problem-solving strategies used by experienced Fireground commanders. Risk Management 18 (1), 4–25
Okoli, J., Watt, J., & Weller, G. (2017). Towards the classification of fireground cues: a qualitative analysis of expert reports. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 25(4), 197-208. Impact Factor: 3.420
Okoli, J., & Watt, J. (2018). Crisis decision-making: the overlap between intuitive and analytical strategies. Management Decision, 56(5), 1122-1134. ABS 2*
Okoli, J.O., Arroteia, N. and Barisch, O (2019) Piloting a portfolio of experiential learning activities for international business students. Journal of Teaching in International Business 30:3, 219-245.
Okoli, J. (2020), Expert knowledge elicitation in the firefighting domain and the implications for training novices, International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 577-578.
Okoli, J. (2020), Improving decision-making effectiveness in crisis situations: developing intuitive expertise at the workplace. Development and Learning in Organisations: An International Journal, 35(4):18-20.
Okoli, J. (2021). Was the COVID-19 pandemic a predictable surprise? A crisis management perspective. Academia Letters, 516, pp.1-5.
Okoli, J.O & Hatami-Marbini, A. (2021). Managing complex crises through the lens of intuitive expertise: A naturalistic decision-making perspective". International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 39(3), 394-416. Impact Factor:1.548.
Okoli, J.O., Watt, J and Weller, G. (2022). A naturalistic decision-making approach to managing non-routine fire incidents: Evidence from expert firefighters. Journal of Risk Research, 25(2): 198-217 [ABS 2*].
Okoli, J., Arroteia, N.P. and Ogunsade, A.I. (2022). Failure of crisis leadership in a global pandemic: some reflections on COVID-19 and future recommendations, Leadership in Health Services, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. [ABS 1*]
Others
Green, red or amber? Understanding the tension between uncertainty management and crisis leadership: lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic. Research Magazine, Leicester Castle Business School, (PDF) Green, red or amber? Understanding the tension between uncertainty management and crisis leadership: lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic (researchgate.net)
Written expert evidence RSK0061 - Risk Assessment and Risk Planning committee, UK Parliament. Available on the UK parliament website at https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/21934/html/ [Published May 2021]
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