Dr Diane Burns

BSc, MSc, PGCE, PhD

Management School

Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies

A photo of Diane Burns wearing a black and white patterned dress.
Profile picture of A photo of Diane Burns wearing a black and white patterned dress.
d.burns@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3216

Full contact details

Dr Diane Burns
Management School
Room B029
Sheffield University Management School
Conduit Road
Sheffield
S10 1FL
Profile

Dr Diane Burns joined the Management School in 2012 as Lecturer in Organization Studies. Before joining the Management School she was a Research Fellow in the School of Allied Health Professions at the University of East Anglia.

Diane holds a PhD from the Discourse Unit Manchester Metropolitan University (now at the University of Manchester), UK.

She also holds a MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, University of London and a 1st Class Honours Degree in Psychology from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Diane's primary research is the area of health and social care organization using ethnographic, participatory and action research methodologies.

She is a member of the Institute of Work Psychology and the Work, Employment Relations Research Centre (WOERRC) located within the Management School and was an International Visiting Scholar to the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University in 2015.

Research interests

Diane's research interests are focused on the instability/stability of the social care system in the UK. Her work seeks to address this issue through three interconnecting themes:

  • Workforce and care quality
  • Institutional abuse and mistreatment
  • Social innovation and homecare

Previously funded through two grants from the Department of Health and Comic Relief (2009-2013), Diane and colleagues have examined the organizational dynamics and features of 'good' and 'poor' care quality, including abuse and mistreatment in residential care homes.

Since 2016 her focus has expanded to include the financialisation of residential care home chains and the need for social innovation in the provision of homecare. Diane has co-wrote 2 CRESC public interest reports.

The Doing Care Differently project, led by Diane, to pilot different ways of doing homecare has recently won a Wellcome Trust Seed Award 2017-18.

​Diane is a member of the Leadership Group of the large ESRC-sponsored multi-disciplinary, multi-site programme ‘Sustainable Care – connecting people and systems’ (SC)​ 2017-2021​​, based in the Centre for International Research on Care, Labour & Equalities [CIRCLE], Faculty of Social Science.

The programme brings together a team of 19 academics from seven universities, linked to an extended network of international academic partners in 15 other countries.​ ​Diane is leading the work-package, ‘Delivering care at home: emerging models and their implications for sustainable wellbeing'.

Publications

Books

  • Kislov R, Burns D, Mørk BE & Montgomery K (2021) Preface. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

  • Burns D, Killett A, Cowie L, Earl J, Folkman P, Froud J, Johal S, Reece Jones I & Hyde P (2016) Where does the money go? Financialised chains the crisis in elder care. Proceedings of ILPN International Conference 2016. London School Economics, 4 September 2016 - 7 September 2016. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hassard J, Burns D, Hyde P & Burns J-P (2016) Video-based Ethnographic Documentary: Toward Collaborative Organizational Research. Academy of Management Proceedings, Vol. 2016(1) (pp 10066-10066) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Killett A, Brooker D, Latham I & La Fontaine J (2012) Examining the relationship between organisation culture and the quality of care: Early findings from the CHOICE project. https://www.ilpnetwork.org/event/ilpn-international-conference-2012/. London School of Economics, London. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D (2007) Identifying and conceptualising organizational boundaries between further and higher education in dual sector institutions: What are they and what do they do?. Paper presented at the 4th CRLL International Conference: The Times They Are A-Changing: Researching. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/165378.htm, 22 June 2007 - 24 June 2007. RIS download Bibtex download

Reports

  • Burns D, Froud J & Roper A (2018) Report on the Social Innovation in Care in Wales at the Foundational Economy Colloquiuim RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Earl J, Folkman P, Froud J, Hyde P, Johal S, Jones Rees I, Killett A & Williams K (2016) Why we need social innovation in home care for older people View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Cowie L, Earle J, Folkman P, Hyde P, Johal P, Jones Rees I, Killett A, Williams K & williams K (2016) Where does the money go? Financialised chains and the crisis in adult residential care View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D & Killett A (2012) What makes a real difference to resident experience? Digging deep into care home culture: The CHOICE (Care Home Organisations Implementing Cultures of Excellence). Report prepared for the Preventing Abuse and Neglect in Institutional Care of Older Adults Programme RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D (2011) Organizational Dynamics of Respect and Elder Care. Report prepared for the Preventing Abuse and Neglect in Institutional Care of Older Adults RIS download Bibtex download

Presentations

  • Burns D, Goodlad C, Hamblin K & Zimpel-Leal K Innovating Home Care: The Holy Grail or Old Wine in New Bottles. Copenhagen. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D & Goodlad C Innovating Home Care Models and the Innovation-bias. Queens University Belfast. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D Burns, D. ‘Innovation in Social Care’ National Social Care Conference, Social Care Wales & ADASS 12th September. Cardiff. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Evans S & Roper A What we can learn about social care by thinking about the money. Foundational Economy Colloquium on Social Innovation in the Foundational Economy. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D Innovating Social Care- The Sheffield Experiment. Cardiff Health and Organisation Ploicy Studies Seminar. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D 'Unmasking or reproducing abuse? Elaborating truth-telling processes through ‘dark-side’ field research'. Centre Mont Royal (2200 Rue Mansfield, Montréal, QC H3A 3R8. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D & Ward-Perkins Z Radical social innovation: Experimenting with Doing Care Differently.. Queen Mary’s University of London. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Earl J, Williams K & ward-perkins Z Financialised innovation and long-term residential elder care. . International Labour Process Conference 2017, Sheffield. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D The state of the social care sector and where the money goes. Winter Gardens, Blackpool. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D 'Speaking out in residential care'. Rutgers, New Jersey. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Bell E, Burns D, Djwa P & Hassard J What's wrong with this picture? Film as a Catalyst for Organisational Change - Five years on. Professional Development Workshop, Academy of Management, Vancouver Canada. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D Speaking out in a climate of silence: Fear, courage and reprimand. European Organisation Studies, Athens Greece. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D Capturing and (re)presenting subjectives: Examining soundscapes of voice/silence in organisational life. Qualitative Research Methods in Management and Business Research, New Mexico, USA. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Hyde P & Killett A Caring in crisis: Mediating job quality and care quality in the provision of elder care. ILR Review Special Conference on Employment Relations in Health Care, Rutgers University, New Jersey. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Killett A, Hyde P, Gray R, Poland F & Kenkmann A Respectful care of older people and organizational dynamics - what can health services learn from the care home sector?. Health Service Research Network, Manchester Central. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Brooker D, Latham I, La Fontaine J & Killett A Care home organisations implementing cultures of excellence (CHOICE): The final study of the Comic Relief/Department of Health PANICOA research programme. Brighton. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Hyde P, Killett A, Poland F & Grey R Fragile systems: Recurrent features of elder abuse. London School of Economics, London.. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Hyde P, Killett A, Poland F & Gray R Re-Writing 'otherness' through participatory methods with older people. Qualitive Research in Management and Organisations Conference, University of New Mexico, USA. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Earl J & Williams K Financialised innovation and long-term residential elder care. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Williams K & Ward Perkins Z Radical social innovation: Experimenting with Doing Care Differently. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D & Mackenzie-Davey K What is collaboration? Discursive struggles for meaning in English health and social care organizations. Santiago de Compestala, Spain. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D, Hyde P & Killett A Wicked people or wicked problems? Reconceptualising institutional abuse.. Dublin, Ireland. RIS download Bibtex download

Other

  • Burns D, Zimpel-Leal K & Goodlad C (2018) Sustainable Care Policy Perspective - Reimagining Care: Ageing well at home: emergent models of home care provision and the professionalisation of the home care workforce. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Burns D & Earle J (2016) Reframing the funding crisis crisis in adult residential care. View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
Research group

Organizational Studies

Teaching interests

Diane has a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Her learning and teaching practice is underpinned by constructivist and active learning approaches which she uses to inform course design, delivery and evaluation.

She is passionate about creating learning and teaching environments that fosters students' engagement, facilitates their learning and supports their development of critical thinking.

Professional activities and memberships

Diane is currently supervising a number of PhD students including:

  • Albert Attom - 'Whistle blowing and speaking out in care homes'
  • Arbaz Kapadi - 'For whose benefit? Mobilising service user involvement for co-design in public services'
  • Grace Whitefield - 'Unionising within the care industry'

She is interested in supervising doctoral research in the following areas:

  • Care work and the social care workforce
  • Dark side of organisation – abuse, mistreatment, exploitation and resistance
  • Social innovation in the organisation and delivery of social care
  • Ethnographic, participatory, action methodologies - particularly the use of visual methods, poetics and film