Dr. Mahima Mitra

Biography

Mahima Mitra is a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, focusing on inclusion. She is also an Executive Coach in the School’s MBA Leadership Coaching Programme. Early in her career, Mahima worked with the World Bank in India. From 2018 to 2022, she served as a researcher and co-investigator on a Wellcome Trust-funded study examining the professional identity development of under-represented academics. Between 2022 and 2024, she worked as a Managing Consultant, advising UK public sector clients across a range of strategic and economic policy areas. Her expertise includes organisational equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, identity identification, responsible leadership, and evidence-based policy strategy. Mahima completed her MPhil and DPhil in Social Policy at the University of Oxford and holds a BSc and MSc in Human Development and Childhood Studies from the University of Delhi, India. Her research focuses on the interactions occurring at the micro-macro interface of organisations and their impact on professionals' sense of self, examining individuals’ socio-emotional experiences at work and their transitions, especially aspiring leaders' roles in shaping leader identities. Mahima employs in-depth qualitative methodologies such as narrative interviews and diary studies to explore individual experiences within organisational contexts, and her public sector engagements have covered equality, diversity, inclusion, education, employment, healthcare, immigration, and asylum. Additionally, she provides leadership coaching for clients from various sectors, including military, law, and technology, with a focus on career transitions.

Research Interests