Ishbel McWha-Hermann

I teach in the area of HRM and IHRM with a particular interest in issues of social justice and diversity. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh I worked for two years as Research Associate at Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute (EDI).

I currently lead two research projects: Project FAIR examines fair reward and diversity/equality/inclusion in international aid and development contexts. The other focuses on the psychological impact of living wages and decent work for workers, their families, organizations and society.

Working internationally, I have advocated for the role of work and organizational psychology in addressing global grand challenges, such as poverty reduction, through contributing to the United Nations’ Agenda for Sustainable Development.  

I am a chartered member of British Psychological Society (BPS), an academic associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and a member of International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). 

I lead the decent work strand of the EAWOP Impact Incubator, am a SIOP representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and sit on the British Psychological Society’s Expert Reference Group on “poverty to flourishing.”   

My research interests include the HR policies and practices of international NGOs, organisational justice, humanitarian work psychology, sustainable HRM, workplace diversity and decent work.

I am particularly interested in working with students on the following topics:

• characteristics of actors within the international aid and development sector, including relationships between volunteers, expatriates and host country national staff
• fairness and reward in international work contexts, particularly using social comparison theory
• diversity/equality/inclusion in the workplace
• decent work and living wages