Assistant Professor in Organisational Theory and Information Systems
BA (Georgetown University), MA, PhD (University of California Santa Barbara)
My research interests include how organisations anticipate technological change, using digital technologies for prediction, AI and autonomous technologies, digital transformation, infrastructure, ethnography, and social network analysis. I previously worked as a political organiser, fundraiser, and consultant for non-profits and labour organisations in the US and Thailand.
I’m a member of the Organisational Theory and Information Systems subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which is engaged with cross-disciplinary themes including leadership.
Professional experience
Virginia is an Assistant Professor in Organisational Theory and Information Systems. Before returning to academia to study technology, work and organisations, Virginia worked for more than a decade as a political organiser, educator, fundraiser, and consultant for non-profits and labour organisations in the US and Thailand. In her previous career she founded several organisations and businesses, including a popular education and retreat centre in rural Virginia and Washington DC-based political consultancy.
Virginia studies the relationship between organisational anticipation and digital technologies. In her research she asks two questions: 1) How do organisations use digital technologies to predict and plan for the future? and 2) How do ideas and information about the future influence organisational structure and action in advance of technological change? Virginia holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Georgetown University, an MA in Sociology from the University of California Santa Barbara, and a PhD in Technology Management from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Publications
Selected publications
- Leonardi, P.M. and Leavell, V. (2024) “How the map becomes the territory: prediction, performativity and the process of taking digital twins for granted.” Journal of Organization Design, 13(3): 101-112 (DOI: 10.1007/s41469-024-00164-2)
News and insight
AI and technology
Digital twins: the future of predictive modelling
A study co-authored by Dr Virginia Leavell investigates how digital models can shape the future by producing changes in their physical twin.
Entrepreneurship and innovation
Looking at 2023
Cambridge Judge Business School faculty offer their insights and opinions on what to expect in 2023 in areas ranging from entrepreneurship to climate change to disinformation.