About Helena Barnard

 Helena Barnard completed her PhD at Rutgers University, and then returned to South Africa. She has been working at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), the Johannesburg-based business school of the University of Pretoria since then, and is a full professor and director of the doctoral program there.

She is interested in how knowledge (and with it technology, organizational practices and innovation) moves between more and less developed countries, particularly in Africa. She researches both organizational mechanisms (notably emerging multinationals and internet-enabled businesses) and individual mechanisms such as scientific collaborations, doctoral training and the diaspora. She has published in the Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Research Policy, Journal of World Business and others.

She was the 2018-2019 Dunning Fellow at University of Reading, and was VP (Administration) for the AIB from 2017 to 2020. She is an editor at the Journal of International Business Policy (JIBP), AIB Insights and the Africa Journal of Management. As special issue editor, she co-edited an issue on migration and international business with Vaaler, Mudambi and Deeds for JIBP (2019). She is leading a special issue for Management and Organization Review on Chinese investment in Africa with Ado, Manning, Ping and Witt and is supporting a special issue on gender and entrepreneurship in Africa for the Journal of African Business with Chrystostome and Ika.