Dr Rachel Hilliard
Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Rachel is the Programme Director for the new exciting new MSc in Management and Sustainability. This programme will equip students to become changemakers in organisations.
Rachel is currently working on an Inter-University Shared Island research project called Atlantic Futures researching Female Entrepreneurship in the Atlantic Innovation Corridor.
This €4million project, funded by the Higher Education Authority, aims to build research capability between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The project will focus on addressing economic and social needs in the overlooked north-west cross-border region from Limerick to Derry.
Rachel has held many leadership roles in the university, and was Vice Dean for Graduate Studies for the College of Business, Public Policy and Law (2011-2019). Rachel has served as Associate Head of School (2011-2015) with responsibility for developing the School's research culture and profile.
Rachel's work contributes to these SDGs
Key Target 9.B - Support domestic technology development and industrial diversification
University Women's Network
University Women's Network
Rachel is a founder member and former Co-Chair of the University Women's Network. The network aims to promote gender equality and to build and strengthen our university communities. It focuses on activities and campaigns that connect members with each other, support their personal and professional development, and raise awareness on issues that impact women in higher education, in Ireland and elsewhere.
Teaching
Rachel has received several awards for teaching excellence and enjoys introducing students at all levels to the excitement of using start-up techniques to solve real-world problems. She has worked on these projects with primary school children in the Youth Academy, postgraduate STEM and business students, as well as executive MBA students.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship uses problem-based learning to give students the experience of being entrepreneurial. Rachel introduces social challenges, and projects often address social needs. Ideas have included: efficiency and sustainability in labs, science teaching and new diagnostic tests. Supported by Rachel some students have taken part in - and won - the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneurship award.
Contributing to Targets 8.1 Sustainable economic growth, 8.2 Diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity; 9.5 Enhance research and upgrade industrial technologies, 9.b Support domestic technology development and industrial diversification
Rachel has supervised PhD students looking at the areas of inter-organisational learning for improved sustainability, mechanisms for knowledge transfer and capabilities for environmental innovation, sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship, ambidexterity in smartgrid entrepreneurship and social innovation.
Thesis Boot Camp is an intensive writing programme for doctoral researchers to support them in timely completion of their research. The programme provides for structured writing time, including the opportunity to learn writing strategies, avail of individual support and share experiences with other doctoral researchers.
It's easy to be technology driven and develop a solution that nobody wants. Instead Rachel introduces her students to the entrepreneurial process and social challenges to identify unmet needs.
Engagement
Rachel's engagement work sees her introduce her students from across disciplines to entrepreneurship using a Human-Centered Design approach. Intrinsic to this approach are the end user needs, which means that Rachel's students also reach out beyond the university to address social needs.
Rachel is also a part of Galway's entrepreneurial ecosystem. She supports the development of social entrepreneurs by mentoring new start-ups, and advising national social entrepreneurship organisations such as ReThink ireland and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.
Direct impact SDG Targets
1.A - Mobilize resources to implement policies to end poverty
1.B - Create pro-poor and gender-sensitive policy frameworks
2.3 - Double the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers
2.4 - Sustainable food production and resilient agricultural practices
4.4 - Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success
4.7 - Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
5.5 - Ensure full participation in leadership and decision-making
5.B - Promote empowerment of women through technology
8.1 - Sustainable economic growth
8.2 - Diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity
8.3 - Promote policies to support job creation and growing enterprises
8.4 - Improve resource efficiency in consumption and production
8.5 - Full employment and decent work with equal pay
8.10 - Universal access to banking, insurance and financial services
9.2 - Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization
9.3 - Increase access to financial services and markets
9.4 - Upgrade all industries and infrastructures for sustainability
9.5 - Enhance research and upgrade industrial technologies
9.B - Support domestic technology development and industrial diversification
10.1 - Reduce income inequalities
10.3 - Ensure equal opportunities and end discrimination
12.5 - Substantially reduce waste generation
12.6 - Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting
17.6 - Knowledge sharing and cooperation for access to science, technology and innovation
Indirect
5.1 - End discrimination against women and girls
5.A - Equal rights to economic resources, property ownership and financial services
7.3 - Double the improvement in energy efficiency
7.A - Promote access to research, technology and investments in clean energy
Research
Featured Publications
Rachel’'s research interests focus on how organisations, both established and start-ups, can transform learning and experience into durable capabilities for innovation to address sustainability challenges. Her work contributes to developing organisational capability theory and especially the nascent theoretical area of dynamic capabilities. She has applied this to understanding the capacity of firms to adapt environmental innovation. She also researches the role of innovation capabilities at the regional and national levels, especially the potential for increased female entrepreneurship to reduce regional economic inequality.
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References |
SDGs |
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Pattinson, P., Damij, N., El Maalouf, N., Bazi, S., Elsahn, Z., Hilliard, R., Cunningham, J. A. (2023). Building green innovation networks for people, planet, and profit: A multi-level, multi-value approach. Industrial Marketing Management, 115. |
15.3, 15.5; 4.4, 4.b; 9.3, 9.5; 10.3 |
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Hilliard, R., English, J., Coleman, M. (2022). Pro-socially motivated knowledge hiding in innovation teams. Technovation, 116. |
9 |
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Hilliard, R. M., Goldstein, D. (2019). Search routines as a solution to the problem of the tautology trap in the concept of dynamic capability. Strategic Organization, 7(2), 210-240. |
81, 8.2; 9.4; 12.6 |
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Reynolds, O., Sheehan, M., Hilliard, R. (2018). Exploring strategic agency in sustainability-oriented entrepreneur legitimation. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 24(2), 429-450. |
8.3; 10.2, 10.3; 15.0, 15.3; 9.3 |