Biography

Dr. Derin Kent is Assistant Professor of Organization Studies at Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. His research examines group and organizational processes in extreme contexts, i.e., those that are isolated, confined, and physically or psychologically dangerous to participants. In these settings, he studies small-scale interactions - like sensemaking, socialization, and work engagement - to understand how people flourish under adversity. To explore these topics, he has studied physicians responding to lethal viruses (SARS-1), storm chasers hunting tornadoes, seafarers on transatlantic voyages, and financial workers restoring their workplaces after terrorism, embedding as an ethnographer where possible.

Derin's research has been published in Organization Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, and Academy of Management Annals, and has appeared in Harvard Business Review and The Conversation, among other outlets. This research and the panels he has organized on managing through COVID-19 have been quoted in business media like Financial Times and Fast Company. He also co-organizes the Extreme Contexts Virtual Seminar Series, an international and interdisciplinary workshop series bringing together the community of scholars of extreme contexts. Besides research, he has experience as a university instructor for undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA, and executive programs, teaching subjects like change management, career management, organizational behavior, and research methods.

Prior to joining Warwick Business School, Derin was a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University, Finland. He earned his PhD in Management at Smith School of Business, Queen's University at Kingston, Canada.