Val Singh BSc PhD DipAppSS FRSA
Reader in Corporate Diversity Management, Deputy Director of the Centre for Women Business Leaders
Val is Deputy Director of the Centre for Women Business Leaders (CWBL) at Cranfield University, where in a mid-life career change after gaining a first class honours degree from the Open University, she completed her PhD into gendered perceptions of commitment and engineering careers. Val leads the Centre's research and is responsible for compiling the annual Female FTSE Index of companies with women directors. This work with Professor Susan Vinnicombe OBE has been widely published and discussed in many arenas, including Downing Street, and the House of Lords. Val was commissioned by the Department of Trade & Industry to report on ethnicity of FTSE 100 directors. Current research focuses on gender and ethnic diversity on FTSE 100 boards, governance and diversity, gendered boardroom cultures, human and social capital, women directors' careers, women and leadership, work/life balance and role models. Another research strand focuses on how diversity management is promoted on corporate websites by companies across Europe (types of diversity, strategies for diversity management, and different types of legitimacy attracted by web-based disclosures). Recent research includes mentoring and corporate networks.
Val lectures on qualitative research methods, and on diversity. She is Gender Editor of The Journal of Business Ethics, Associate Editor of Gender Work & Organisation, and reviews for many academic journals. Val has 19 refereed journal articles, many practitioner articles, conference papers and book chapters, and in 2005, wrote the Masterclass in Corporate Governance and Diversity feature for the Financial Times. Val has presented her work in 15 countries, has been frequently interviewed by the media, with 360 press articles in 14 countries on the Centre's research since it started in late 1999.
Val is a regular speaker at international conferences incuding keynote speaker at the Malta National Council of Women's 40th Anniversary Conference, International Women's Day Conference for Women in Science, Engineering & Technology in London, invited workshops for the 1st Women's Global Leadership Conference in Dubai, and the European Women's Management Development (EWMD) International Conference in Berlin. Val's consultancy assignments include speaking, workshops, researching and writing. She is a regular judge of the UK National Business Awards, and other awards including Management Today's list of the 50 most powerful women. Val speaks several languages and was previously a higher education manager, a Further Education (FE) teacher in Sweden and Norway, and an executive in the UK Civil Service.
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Framework agreement signed for pioneering Infrastructure Tariff
A new agreement that is expected to raise more that £300 million to help pay for the growth of Milton Keynes has been signed.
Top government official visits Milton Keynes
Communities and Local Government Permanent Secretary, Peter Housden, recently visited Milton Keynes to see how growth is developing in the 'new city' and in particular those areas where MKP is responsible for project delivery.
Annual Review 2006
The MKPC Annual Review is designed to update you on our activities and to highlight some of the year’s major achievements.
