Virginie is an incoming postdoc researcher in Management. Interested in collective action in extreme contexts, current projects deal with sensemaking, embodiment and temporality.
My research interests are in the continuity of my PhD thesis titled "Emergence of collective competence in extreme contexts. The case of French mountain rescue teams".
My work tends to explore collective competence and extreme contexts in three main directions. The first one relates to collective sensemaking and how individuals and team members make sense of both their body and emotions to tackle issues raised in risky and emergency contexts. The second adopts a practiced-base view and intends to "rehabilitate" improvisation as a major practice rather than a "plan B" that sometimes needs to be hidden. Finally, I explore temporality in extreme contexts acknowledging the juxtaposition of several forms of time in organizations.
I use qualitative methods (interviews, participating observation, fieldwork) and adopt various theoretical perspective (practice-based studies, sensemaking, strong processual approach) to contribute to the development of the research fields I am invested in.
I teach in both English and French in various disciplines: organisation theory, project management, teamwork, human resources and corporate communication.
Through the lectures and seminars that I provide, I strive to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes to students to support their rise in competence and autonomy. I consider that university training aims to prepare them to enter working life by promoting actionable knowledge in the field. The first part of my professional career in business creation consulting showed me how important it is to bring academic work closer to actual managerial reality, which was particularly useful to me in the supervision of various students’ projects. In addition, I try to integrate knowledge built through research into my courses. This feels part of a collaborative and incremental logic with other researchers from the scientific community to which I belong.