The research didn't end with the doctorate.
My Doctor of Professional Studies provided a foundation for questions I continue to explore through professional practice, writing and reflection.
This is where I bring together the more formal parts of that continuing inquiry: doctoral research, published academic work, work-based research and selected case studies arising from professional practice.
Together, they provide some of the evidence and experience that sit behind the ideas I explore elsewhere on timall.red.
Early doctoral inquiry
Work-based learning and research for mid-career professionals: Professional studies in australia
This paper examines the relationship between work-based learning, work-based research and Professional Studies, using the University of Southern Queensland program as its context. It explores research undertaken within the complexity of real workplaces and considers the role of reflective practice in connecting professional experience, research and the development of professional artefacts.
Provenance: Co-authored during my Doctor of Professional Studies candidacy at the University of Southern Queensland.
Connection to my inquiry: This work helped establish the intellectual context for my doctoral journey and shaped my interest in reflection as more than a learning activity: as part of how practitioners can systematically examine experience and generate knowledge through practice.
Citation: Fergusson, L., Allred, T., & Dux, T. (2018). Work-based learning and research for mid-career professionals: Professional studies in Australia. Interdisciplinary Journal of eSkills and Lifelong Learning, 14, 1-17. doi: 10.28945/3930.
Work-based learning and research for mid-career professionals: Two project examples from Australia
Building on the Professional Studies model, this paper examines two Australian work-based research projects. One of those projects concerned health, safety and wellness leadership and its relationship with corporate performance, providing an early published account of the research that would develop through my doctoral studies. The paper considers how work-based research can create benefits for the researcher, workplace and wider practice domain.
Provenance: Co-authored during my Doctor of Professional Studies candidacy at the University of Southern Queensland.
Connection to my inquiry: This paper marks an important bridge between the Professional Studies approach and my own research. It began locating my investigation of safety leadership within a broader idea: that questions arising from professional practice can be investigated rigorously and contribute back to both practice and the workplace.
Citation: Fergusson, L., Allred, T., Dux, T., & Muianga, H. (2018). Work-based learning and research for mid-career professionals: Two project examples from Australia. Interdisciplinary Journal of eSkills and Lifelong Learning, 14, 19-40. doi: 10.28945/3959.
Doctoral Thesis
Safety Leadership and its Relationship with Safety Performance
My doctoral research explored the relationship between safety leadership and safety performance through a case study of an Australian facility management company. The research examined safety leadership as a feature of professional and organisational practice, and how it relates to the ways safety performance is understood. It brought together my longstanding interests in leadership, evidence and workplace practice, while providing the foundation for questions I continue to explore through writing, reflection and ongoing practice inquiry.
Provenance: Completed as the research component of my Doctor of Professional Studies at the University of Southern Queensland.
Connection to my inquiry: Completing the doctorate didn't resolve my interest in safety leadership. It broadened it. The research left me increasingly interested in how leadership is experienced in practice, how we interpret different forms of evidence, and how reflective inquiry can help practitioners examine both their work and their own assumptions.
Citation: Allred, T. (2022). Safety leadership and its relationship with safety performance: A case study of an Australian facility management company [Doctor of Professional Studies thesis, University of Southern Queensland]. University of Southern Queensland Repository.
Practice Case Studies
Not all of my inquiry has begun as formal research. Some has emerged through professional practice: working with colleagues on organisational challenges, testing different approaches, and sharing what we learned with the wider profession.
The case studies below document work undertaken in an organisational capacity. They are included here as part of my professional publication and presentation record, with the originating organisation and collaborators identified alongside each artefact.
Effective Frontline Leader Onboarding
This case study explores the Downer Way Supervisor Fundamentals programme, a 12-week initiative designed to support frontline leaders. The work included peer-based video content and was presented by Allred and D'Arcy at QWater'24.
Provenance: This work was developed and undertaken through my professional role with Downer, in collaboration with colleagues. It is included here as part of my professional practice and presentation record and is not presented as independent timall.red work.
Connection to my inquiry: This work provides an example of inquiry emerging through practice: exploring how professional and leadership capability can be developed in the context in which that capability is ultimately used.
Citation: Allred, T. and D’Arcy, L. 2024. Effective Frontline Leader Onboarding. In: Safety Innovation in Utilities. QWater’24 Conference (31 Oct – 1 Nov 2024). Australian Water Association.
Empowering people to think differently: Driving blue sky thinking to business-as-usual at Downer
This case study documents the implementation of a Human and Organisational Performance (HOP) programme within Downer's water programmes. The work was presented by Oberg, Wright and Allred at QWater'23.
Provenance: This work arose through my professional employment with Downer and was developed collaboratively with organisational colleagues. It is included here as part of my professional practice and presentation record rather than as independent timall.red research.
Connection to my inquiry: It connects with my continuing interest in how organisations learn from work, how established ways of thinking are questioned, and how new ideas move from exploration into everyday practice.
Citation: Oberg, M., Wright, D. and Allred, T. 2023. Empowering people to think differently: Driving blue sky thinking to business-as-usual at Downer. In: Strategic Thinking In Practice. QWater’23 Conference (9-10 Nov 2023). Australian Water Association.