PhD (University of Queensland), MCM, BCom, DipHSc
Senior Teaching Fellow
I teach in the areas of sustainability and entrepreneurship in the Department of Management at the Otago Business School, University of Otago. My other responsibilities include being the Director of the Master of Sustainable Business and the Chair of the Department of Management Teaching and Learning Committee. I previously taught and co-ordinated courses at the University of Queensland, Australia, and Lincoln University. As an educator, I have won school and university teaching awards at the University of Otago and the University of Queensland.
My current research is on business and sustainability, with my PhD focusing on how managers understand the practice of sustainability. As a Senior Teaching Fellow, I also research into management education focusing on enhancing the student experience through interactive experiences including field trips, classroom icebreakers, and team building activities.
I have ABDC ranked publications in journals on the topics of sustainable business, and teaching and learning.
Teaching
Elizabeth is involved in the teaching, marking, and co‑ordinating of:
- ENTR 212 Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Practice
- MANT 101 Managing for Performance
- MANT 217 International Management
- MANT 250 Managing People
Research interests
- Business and sustainability
- Enhancing the student experience
Other Responsibilities
- Director: Master of Sustainable Business Programme
- Chair: Department of Management Teaching and Learning Committee
- Editorial Board Member: Journal of Management Education
- Academic Board member: CHC, Brisbane, Australia.
Publications
Nichols, E. (2025, November). Building team capability and capacity. Verbal presentation at the University of Otago Learning and Teaching Symposium: Learning through the Lens of Educators, [Hybrid]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Luetz, J. M., Nichols, E., du Plessis, K., & Nunn, P. D. (2023). Spirituality and sustainable development: A systematic word frequency analysis and an agenda for research in Pacific Island countries. Sustainability, 15, 2201. doi: 10.3390/su15032201 Journal - Research Article
Nichols, E. (2022, August). Turn to the classics: Introducing spirituality in management to an undergraduate course curriculum. Verbal presentation at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AoM), [Hybrid]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Imbrogiano, J.-P., & Nichols, E. (2021). How to serve sustainability performance in businesses? An appetizing recipe to link practices to performance in business sustainability research. Business Strategy & the Environment, 30(4), 1610-1622. doi: 10.1002/bse.2697 Journal - Research Article
Nichols, E. (2018). Managers’ understandings of the practice of sustainability: A practice theory approach (PhD). University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.695 Awarded Doctoral Degree