018 - Dr Alina Vaduva

Dr Alina Vaduva

Lecturer in Business Strategy | Strategy & Leadership - Academic

Lecturer

Management, Leadership, Business Strategy, Business Decision Making, CIME

Department of Strategy and Leadership , Royal Docks School of Business and Law

With 21+ years' experience across business, academia, and politics, I bring strong commercial acumen, leadership, and adaptability. An elected councillor and entrepreneur, I thrive in complex environments. A skilled communicator and multilingual (7 languages), I excel in teaching, research, and cross-sector collaboration.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Management
  • MA in Human Resource Management
  • BA in International Business
  • Diploma in Education and Training (DET) with PGCE (ProfGCE)
  • PGCert (Level 7) - Advance HE Fellowship (FHEA)
  • TQUK Level 6 Diploma - Public Services Interpreting (DPSI)
  • Certificate - Copernicus MOOC (EU Earth Observation Programme)
  • Award in Business Innovation, Sustainability and Growth
  • Certificate in Business Fundamentals – Effective Networking
  • AdvanceHE Enhancing Leadership Programme (2025)
  • Recruitment and Selection Training

Areas Of Interest

  • Sustainable Business and Net Zero Strategy
  • Civic Engagement and Public Policy
  • Entrepreneurship and Innovation
  • Leadership and Strategic Management
  • Higher Education Teaching and Curriculum Design
  • Multilingual Communication and Intercultural Competence
  • Start-up Development and Commercialisation
  • AI and Digital Transformation in Business
  • Stakeholder Engagement and Community Development
  • Governance and Local Government
  • Policy Cross-sector Collaboration and Systems Thinking
  • SME Sustainability and Capacity Building 
018 - Dr Alina Vaduva

OVERVIEW

I worked for seven years in banking, three years in EU-funded international projects (H2020), I founded and managed two companies (I am still a shareholder in one), and I have four years of experience working in education.

MOST RECENT RESEARCH

The Entrepreneurial Toolkit for Sustainability: Skills, Strategies and AI Integration (2025) 

  • Presented at the PRME Chapter UK & Ireland Conference, Queen’s Business School, Belfast, 18–19 June 2025. Co-authored with S. Sandland and T. Coker, this research explores how entrepreneurs can leverage AI and strategic skills to drive sustainability in business.

Written evidence to UK Parliament Committees (2025)

  • Evidence for the Science and Technology Committee: joint submission with K. Chang and S. Smid regarding AI in government (SUK0015).
  • Independent evidence to the Public Accounts Committee under UAIG0005, analyzing AI adoption in public services and associated governance issues.

Assessing the Value of Individualised Academic Support Systems for International Students using Automated Solutions (2024)

  • Presented at the British Academy of Management Conference (Nottingham Trent University, 2–6 Sept 2024). Co-authored with S. Sandland, A. Pour, Nanayakkara, and K. Chang, this paper examines AI-powered support systems for global student cohorts.

Op-Eds and articles in 2024

  • TikTok manipulation in the Romanian presidential elections… (Open Access Government)
  • AI-Empowerment: The potential uses for AI in local government (Open Access Government)
  • AI-empowered higher education: Challenges and opportunities (Open Access Government)
  • A rising tide of e-waste, made worse by AI… (The Conversation)
  • Demand for computer chips fuelled by AI could reshape global politics and security (The Conversation, co-authored with Chang)
  • AI may develop a huge carbon footprint… (The Conversation, co-authored with Chang)

PROJECTS

  • I personally coordinated an ERDF-funded project - a Regional Centre for Entrepreneurs, a project of 2.5 mil EUR: 200 young entrepreneurs were trained and coached, and 50 new businesses were funded with 50,000 EUR.
  • I handled the budgetary planning and financial reporting for Romania in the FP7 project in the urban logistics field, called Dorothy (Development Of RegiOnal clusTers for researcH and implementation of environmental friendlY urban logistics | DOROTHY Project | Fact Sheet | FP7 | CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu) ), a total budget of 7 m EUR.
  • I was the leading researcher in an ERDF project called Development of Technological Transfer Capacities of Research Organisations (1.5m EUR)

RESEARCH AND IMPACT

I am part of the EU Innovation network community. I took part in legal initiatives related to local government in the UK. I sent education policy suggestions to the UK Shadow Cabinet.

Research centres and groups

  • CIME
  • Noon
  • Business Advice Centre (MBA)

EXTERNAL ROLES

  • Councillor

INDUSTRY PARTNERS

I cooperate with the PwC Luxembourg, University of Craiova, Romania and ARoTT ( The Romanian Association of Technology Transfer and Innovation).

Publications

Browse past publications by year.

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository