I am currently the Dean of the School of Business and Creative Industries and a Professor in Management Studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. I am also a Visiting Professor at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. I have held other senior management positions as Head of Department of Business Strategy and Innovation at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia, and as the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise and Assistant Dean for Research and Innovation at faculty level at Bath Spa University, UK. I have also held several leadership roles with the British Academy of Management (BAM), the most recent being as Co-Vice Chair. I am highly active in engagement initiatives. I represented Griffith Business School as a judge for the Premier’s Awards for Excellence. I was invited to be part of an expert panel on the topic of developing innovations in small businesses by the Department of Youth Justice, Employment, Small Business and Training, Queensland Government. Beyond university-settings, I am a non-executive member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Standards and Regulation Board Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework Steering Group. I also had a successful 4-year tenure as Chair of the Human Capital Standards Committee with the British Standards Institute (BSI) representing the UK in the International Standards Organisation's (ISO) 'Technical Committee (TC) 260'. I have also served as an expert on panels in developing several standards published by the BSI and ISO. I have been commissioned to produce practitioner reports by Advance HE, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the World Economic Forum. I am a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
As a management researcher, I have published in several journals with the highest ranking in the Australian Business Deans Council, Chartered Association of Business Schools (UK) and/or Financial Times Top 50 journals ranking list e.g. Academy of Management Learning and Education, Human Resource Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies and Journal of World Business. I have published over 50 peer-reviewed research journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and scholarly and practitioner reports. I was a recipient of the Outstanding Paper in the 2017 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence. I am part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s and BAM's Peer Review Colleges. I was awarded the BAM Medal for Knowledge Development in 2022. I have been a reviewer for the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Oxford University Press commissioned me to contribute an article on 'Critical Thinking in Business Research' published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia. I was a member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health's (IOSH) Research Advisory Panel. I am currently on the Editorial Review Board of the Academy of Management Learning and Education, the highest ranked management education journal in the world. Previously, I was a Visiting Professor at Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management, Université d'Aix-Marseille and an honorary scholar at the University of Liverpool. I am a Chartered Scientist with the Science Council, UK.
As a management educator, I have worked with universities such as ESDES Lyon Business School in France, University of the West of Scotland and the Open University in the UK, and the University of Newcastle Australia. I have strong expertise in learning in a digital environment. I have published textbooks for the CIPD in this area. In recognition of my contribution to management education and scholarship, I have served as a reviewer to Pearson Education, specifically for some digital texts in general management and organisational behaviour. I am highly experienced in doctoral studies having successfully supervised 14 candidates (PhD and professional doctorates). I have also been invited as an external to several validation events for doctoral programs, and I have been externally examining professional doctorate programs for several years. I have been invited as an external examiner on 10 occasions (PhD and professional doctorates) for candidates in the UK and other overseas universities. I was a reviewer for Advance HE’s National Teaching Fellowship Scheme. I am a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK.
Before academia, I had a successful career as a management consultant for over ten years. I was employed by firms such as Ernst & Young, Cap Gemini and KPMG. In Sydney, I had a private practice providing consulting and business analysis services to clients in the financial services and public sectors. My clients from the private sector included Morgan Stanley and QBE Insurance Group. My public sector clients included Transport for NSW, University of Sydney and the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department of Malaysia. My areas of expertise include strategic and change management, corporate governance, risk management, organisational development and business process reengineering. I have consulted in the following industries; automotive, financial services (banking, insurance and wealth management), government and the public sector, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and telecommunications. I am an Academic Fellow of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes.
In addition to Australia, I have worked in France, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and the UK for learning and teaching, research and consulting projects.
Professional Memberships
- Chartered Management Institute, UK
- Institute of Science and Technology, UK
- Science Council, UK
- Institute of Management Consultants
- Advance HE
- Academy of Management
Awards/Fellowships
- British Academy of Management Medal for Knowledge Development, 2022
- Outstanding Paper in the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence, 2017
- Australian Postgraduate Award, 2009
- Academic Excellence Award, Ottawa University (Kansas, US), 1999
- Chartered Manager
- Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute
- Chartered Scientist
- Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Academic Fellow of the of the Institute of Management Consultants
Professional Social Media
Grant/project name |
Investigators |
Funding body and AUD$ value |
Year(s) |
Focus of research grant |
Flexible learning |
Mark Loon (Chief Investigator) |
Advance HE, $10,000 (app) |
2021 |
Literature review on flexible learning |
Autoethnography research |
Mark Loon (Chief Investigator) |
Royal Navy UK, $120,000 (app) |
2019-2020 |
Developing autoethnography as a research approach and reflective practice |
Healthier Outcomes at Work (HOW) Social Work Project |
Mark Loon (Co-Investigator) |
Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Health and Social Care (UK), $520,000 (app) |
2018-202 |
Through the co-development of a series of wellbeing interventions with social workers employed within Local Authorities, the HOW Social Work project has had demonstrable impact on the wellbeing of social work professionals employed within participating organisations |
Learning and Development Practice and Profession. |
Mark Loon (Chief Investigator) |
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (UK), $20,000 (app) |
2014 |
The aim of this study is to explore how these changes are impacting organisations and the critical capabilities L&D needs to develop in this evolving context. The report reviews the context in which L&D professionals operate and highlights where there have been significant changes in recent years, or where changes are expected. |
Research areas
- business models
- innovation
- strategic capabilities
- learning and development
- practice theory
Professor Loon's specialist areas of knowledge include business models, innovation, strategic capability, learning and development and practice theory