Dr Saskia de Klerk teaches international business, entrepreneurship and managing across cultures at USC at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She believes in reflection, empowerment and authentic learning environments.

Saskia worked at UNSW Canberra teaching International Business, Business Planning and Change Management at ADFA from 2011-2017. During this time, she also worked as Higher Degree Coordinator to oversee recruitment, scholarship applications, confirmation and annual progress reviews and overall wellbeing of the PhD and MPhil students in the School of Business. She actively engaged with the Canberra Innovation Incubator and Lighthouse Innovation Centre on entrepreneurship and innovation development in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Her research interests in Incubators lead to her involvement in the Government sponsored project: The role and performance of accelerators in the Australian startup ecosystem. Her keen interest in creativity and innovation lead to her research with the Street Theatre in the ACT and international collaboration with TREES (Tourism Research in Economics, Environs and Society) at North-West University in South Africa. These projects focus on Entrepreneurship in the Creative industries and Tourism and its impact on regional development and career advancement of the local community.

More recently she has been involved in research on entrepreneurial skills development and creativity with Lighthouse Innovation Centre. She has been observing the teaching models and skills development in authentic learning environments. The focus of these workshops is on the development of soft skills and is STEAMED (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Entrepreneurship and Design) focused.

Saskia’s research focusses on Innovation and Entrepreneurial development within specific contexts as Ecosystems.

You can also visit Saskia at:

• ORCID
• LinkedIn

Awards

• Extraordinary Senior Researcher at North-West University – TREES (Tourism Research in Economics, Environment and Society) Research program
• Wilfred Laurier grant for travel expenses to attend the NEXT conference on Tourism Entrepreneurship. (2011).
• Merit grant for Young upcoming and promising researcher by the Institutional office (NWU) for the amount of R50 000.00 in 2009.
• SAIMS 25th Annual conference 2013: Session 1: Entrepreneurial Resilience on the 17 September 2013 8am – 10am in Room: G41 European Union funding in 2005 to attend conference and workshop at Stockholm University College – Sodertorns Hogskola University College (5-8 Sept 2005).

Professional memberships

• AOM
• SAIMS

Research publications

• Miles, M.P., de Vries, H. Harrison, G., Bliemel, M., de Klerk, S., Kasouf, C.J. (2017). Accelerators as authentic training experiences for nascent entrepreneurs, Education + Training, 59(7/8): 811-824.
• Klerk, S., and Verreynne, M. L. (2017). The networking practices of women managers in an emerging economy setting: negotiating institutional and social barriers. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(3): 477-501.
• De Klerk S. (2015). The creative industries: an entrepreneurial bricolage perspective. Management Decision, 53(4): 828-842.
• De Klerk S, and Ranasinghe G. (2015). Exploring the Youth Entrepreneurial Risk Behavior from a Cognitive Perspective. Sri Lankan Journal of Management, 20(3-4): 70-93
• De Klerk S and Saayman M. (2014). Managing network motivations of [Ev]Entrepreneurs. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 3(2): 1-22. http//: www.ajhtl.com
• Bean K., De Klerk, S., and Kroon J. (2013). Conveying the Message: Building Relationships in a Varied Team. Journal of Business and Management, 2(1): 11-25
• De Klerk, S. and Saayman, M. (2012). Networking as key factor in Artrepreneurial success. European Business Review, 24(5): 382-399.

Potential research projects for HDR and honours students

• Entrepreneurship development
• Networking and stakeholder management
• Innovative ecosystem development
• Women career advancement
• Creativity and Innovation Management

Research grants