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Research
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Dr Libby Sander is an internationally renowned academic expert on work and the workplace.
For most people work is a central and inescapable tenet of life. A quick scan of major international newspapers, magazines, and podcasts highlights the perpetual interest in modern office work. This isn’t surprising given that we spend a third of our lives at work, and up to 70% of workers spend their workday in an office setting.
The way in which work plays out, and its setting, convey significant messages that influence our beliefs about ourselves, our coworkers and the organisation itself. Companies continue to invest heavily in their offices, often experimenting with concepts and practices about which we have little scientific understanding.
Libby’s research looks at how a range of different work settings including open-plan offices, coworking spaces and working from home influence our thinking, mood & physiological stress, as well as outcomes such as engagement, empowerment, collaboration and performance. You can access her publications on workspace design, open-plan offices, working from home, how clutter affects us and why Zoom meetings are exhausting in the link below.
Libby is regularly featured on radio and TV in national & international media including for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, BBC, Al Jazeera, SiriusXM, The Guardian, ABC, SBS, Channel 7 and 3AW Melbourne commenting on issues on work, the workplace, society & future trends in organisations.
Libby earned her PhD in Organisational Behaviour from Griffith University, and also holds a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management, Bachelor of Arts in Japanese and Bachelor of Business also from Griffith University. She is a former State and National Junior Champion in Equestrian.
Libby's multi-disciplinary research spans workplace design, the future of work, organisational behaviour, neuroscience, architecture, psychology, entrepreneurship and urban design. Libby’s research on workplaces has been implemented extensively in industry, and has been recognised with the top state award from the Australian Institute of Architects for a project in Darwin.
Libby is leading an extensive program of research on workplace desig, using leading edge neuroscience and big data methodologies with significant grant funding. Libby works with clients such as Microsoft Europe and Lend Lease. She has presented her research at some of the world's leading academic conferences including the Academy of Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Libby is the co-author of Work in the 21st Century: How do I Log On? which was published by Emerald in 2017.
She is currently working on a new book for Routledge.
Libby won the 2019 Vice Chancellor's Teacher of the Year (ECR) at Bond University, the award for Teaching Excellence (ECR) by the Bond Business School in 2018, and was a finalist in the 2018, 2020 & 2021 Vice-Chancellor's Research Excellence Awards.
You can read more about Libby's research and access her research publications here.
Industry Collaborations
Charles Darwin University
Libby was invited by Charles Darwin University to apply the findings of her research to the design of a new workspace for their ITMS division refitting the whole of their former Trades Building. Libby designed and implemented the new workplace working alongside Cris Edwards from Mannigan Edwards and the CDU team, leading the change management program and assessing the results over a four-year period. You can read more about the project here.
The project was awarded the top award for Interior Architecture at the Australian Institute of Architects awards for the Northern Territory in 2017. The project also won the award for Innovation in Service Management in the 2019 Northern Territory Digital Excellence Awards.
Photography by Glenn Campbell