A Doc Does the DOC
Graduate Dr. Jane Stevens shares her reflections on the challenges, breakthroughs, and lasting impact of action research and her doctoral journey on the Doctorate in Organizational Change at Ashridge.
Friday, October 10, 2025
12:30-1:30pm BST (London)
Zoom Webinar
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Event overview
What does it really mean to undertake a doctorate while balancing a demanding professional life? In this session, Dr. Jane Stevens—medical doctor, NHS leader, and graduate of the Hult Doctorate in Organizational Change at Ashridge—shares her experience of navigating the program and its impact on her practice. Jane will reflect on what she discovered during her action research, the challenges and surprises along the way, and how completing the doctorate in 2022 continues to shape her approach to leadership, wellbeing, and creativity in healthcare.
- The lived experience of doctoral research: What it feels like to undertake action research within a professional context
- Healthcare as a lens for organizational change: How lessons from medicine and patient care can illuminate leadership and organizational development more broadly
- Balancing multiple identities: Navigating the transition from clinician to leader to researcher
- Creativity and wellbeing in complex systems: Why imagination and human-centered approaches matter in sustaining professionals
- Practical reflections: The challenges, surprises, and personal growth that come with doctoral-level inquiry at Hult
Meet the Speaker
Jane Stevens
Jane Stevens trained in the UK as a medical doctor, qualifying in Manchester in 1996 and specializing in haematology before working as an NHS consultant until 2016. Alongside her clinical career, she developed a deep interest in leadership and change, completing an MBA at Hult Ashridge in 2014. In 2017, Jane embarked on the Doctorate in Organizational Change program at Ashridge.
Her doctoral journey has been shaped by her commitment to understanding how professionals can thrive amid complexity and uncertainty. Returning to the NHS during the pandemic, Jane now describes herself as a “recovering doctor” and works primarily with medical students and healthcare practitioners, helping them explore resilience, creativity, and wellbeing in healthcare systems.
Jane is Associate Medical Director for Wellbeing, Workforce & Patient Safety at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, Senior Lecturer at Kent and Medway Medical School, and a qualified Sophrology practitioner. Her research explores salutogenesis (the study of factors that bring health and wellbeing), creativity in healthcare, and the emerging field of Creative Healthcare. Through her doctoral work at Hult, she is engaging in action research that brings together her clinical background, leadership experience, and passion for organizational change.
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