School of Business and Law

Professor Maryam Omari

Professor Maryam Omari is the Executive Dean of the School of Business and Law.

Key Research Areas

• Dignity and respect at work
• Workplace bullying
• Quality of work-life issues
• Cross cultural management

Biography

Professor Maryam Omari has been the Executive Dean of the School of Business and Law since January 2016. She is the first female, and the longest serving Executive Dean of the School. Maryam is a member of the University’s Executive team and reports directly to the Vice-Chancellor. Maryam has held a number of previous academic leadership positions between 2005 – 2015 including: Program Director MBA and Graduate Studies; Associate Dean International; Director of Undergraduate Studies; and Human Resource Management Course Coordinator.

Since becoming the Executive Dean, she has grown and repositioned the School of Business and Law (SBL) at ECU by leading and managing a significant change agenda which has resulted in structural, cultural, academic and curriculum renewal. In 2024 SBL became the largest of eight Schools at ECU, moving up from the third largest School in 2016 when Maryam took over as Executive Dean.

Under Maryam’s leadership the Business School achieved accreditation from AACSB International in 2022. The Business and Economics discipline at ECU rose to the Top 250 in the Times Higher Education (THE) international rankings for 2022 and retained this standing for 2023 and 2024 - the highest ranked THE discipline at ECU. The Hospitality and Tourism discipline became the highest ranked discipline at ECU on the ShanghaiRankings at number 30 in the world in 2023 and moved up to #26 for 2024.  In October 2023, The Australian Financial Review (AFR) named the Business School at ECU as number 1 in Western Australia for the second year running for Quality, and #2 in the nation.

Maryam has a PhD, Master of Business (Human Resource Management), Graduate Diploma of Business (Management), and a Bachelor of Science (Zoology). She has taught Human Resource Management, International Business, and Management and has lived, studied and worked in the Middle East, UK and USA.

Maryam is currently on the Alumni Advisory Group of the UK based Advance HE’s Top Management Program (TMP). Over the past decade, Maryam has been a Board member of:

• The Cat Haven WA., and the Chair of the People and Culture sub-committee of the Cat Haven Board (2020 – 2022)
• The International Association on Workplace Bullying and Harassment (IAWBH) (2016 – 2020);
• The Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) (2014 – 2016); and
• Connectgroups in Western Australia (2013 – 2016).

Maryam has also been a member of:

• The WA Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) State Council (2013 – 2016);
• The WA representative on the national AHRI Research Advisory Panel (RAP) (2013 – 2017);
• The Chair of the International Management Stream of (ANZAM) annual conference (2012 – 2018); and
• A Judge for the annual Telstra Business, and Business Woman of the Year Awards (2013 – 2017).

In her industry roles, Maryam has designed, developed, implemented and evaluated national projects and in-house capability building programs. Prior to academia, she worked in the public sector for over 17 years in various HR capacities including: learning and development; recruitment and selection; coordination of graduate programs; organisational development; strategic planning; leadership development and management. As an HR Manager she was a member of the State Executive of the Agency.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy (Business Studies), Edith Cowan University, 2007.
• Master of Business in Human Resource Management, Edith Cowan University, 2001.
• Graduate Diploma of Business in Management, Edith Cowan University, 1992.
• Bachelor of Science (Zoology), The University of Western Australia, 1987.

Research Outputs

Research Projects

• MARS: Advancing female inclusion and diversity in the mining sector – What’s working and what’s not, DMIRS: Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety - MARS, Grant, 2024, $10,100.
• Flexible work and psychological safety: best practice to advance psychologically safe work from alternate locations, NSW Government, Understanding the Changing World of Work (Tender), 2020 ‑ 2021, $135,157.
• Diversity and Inclusion Census – DWER , Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (WA), Grant, 2020 ‑ 2021, $13,748.
• Diversity Disclosure in an Inclusive and Psychologically Safe Work Environment - A Work Guide for the WA Public Sector, Public Sector Commission, Public Sector Commission, 2020, $32,879.
• BHP - Heritage: Work and Wellbeing, BHP Billiton, Grant, 2020, $47,989.
• Valuing Remote Workers, Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (WA), Grant, 2020, $75,000.
• Volunteering to Learn: Enhancing learning in the student volunteering experience in Australian Universities, Office for Learning and Teaching, OLT - Innovation and Development Grant, 2013 ‑ 2015, $24,000.
• Dignity and Respect at Work: An Exploration of Work Behaviours in a Professional Environment, Edith Cowan University, Grant - Faculty Industry Research Collaborative, 2009 ‑ 2010, $23,500.

Research Student Supervision