John Tull

Dr John Tull PhD, FHEA, PGCHE, CMBE, MIPP, MA, MFin, MBA, DipCoDir, BAHons

Lecturer in Business Management

Dr. John Tull joined University of Greenwich following a two-year fulltime postdoctoral fellowship at Royal Holloway, University of London where he conducted extensive research for the ESRC-funded study of NATO member organisational learning/adaptation. He continues to collaborate with that project to co-author its interdisciplinary publications while providing module leadership, tutoring and teaching/dissertation support to students at final-year UG and PG level in the Business School. He has delivered guest PhD programme lectures at Kings College London and Manchester University.

John has conducted ten invited ‘impact’ events since mid-2024 where he has co-presented detailed findings from the military learning project in Portugal, Estonia, the Netherlands, Germany, Slovakia and the UK, plus a briefing for the relevant unit of the US Army. These impact events have enabled military units and military academies to adopt recommendations from the study findings and invite further collaboration. These activities and the pipeline of publications have wider relevance for public management leadership communities in ‘high reliability’ organisational (HRO) contexts as well, a promising opportunity for future research and knowledge exchange collaborations.

John comes to academia with extensive experience in international business management in high-tech across Asia, including 7 years in regional C-level executive roles such as Chief Marketing Officer, China & Asia Pacific, Alcatel-Lucent Inc. 2005-2007. From 2009, he transferred those experiences and skills to spend over a decade working/researching in international development as Global Director, Acting Programme Director, Senior Business Consultant, grant writer, researcher, and trainer-of-trainers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America (spanning entrepreneurship development, PPP alliances, food and export commodity value chain sustainability, mobile ICT business services).

Business and management

Responsibilities within the university

John is a Lecturer in Business Management, leading the Innovation and Technology Management (year 2) module and his new ‘The Impact Mindset’ (year 1) module. He teaches in other undergraduate and postgraduate Management, Sustainability, International Entrepreneurship and Business Creation Project modules, and supervises Master’s and PhD dissertations.

John is also:

  • Co-convenor of the Special Interest Group for Research Methods and Methodologies, for the School of Business, Operations and Strategy
  • Organising Committee member for the annual Learning and Teaching Festival in Greenwich Business School

Mentor for the University of Greenwich Generator, including teaching in the Help to Grow programme for SMEs.

Awards

Recognition

Research / Scholarly interests
  • John's current research focuses on organisational learning (and mis-learning), specifically military learning in NATO member countries (ESRC 2021-2024).
  • His wider research interests, stemming from lengthy practitioner experience in the high-tech sector in Asia, and in SME development in emerging markets mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, lie in organisational knowledge strategy, practices and innovation policy.

Key funded projects

Continuing to collaborate with the ESRC-funded multi-year project on Lessons Learned in NATO member countries (ES/V004190/1) to complete the publications and impact events in 2024-25.

‘Creative U’ pilot project for designing an entrepreneurship development curriculum with young prison inmates, funded by the Networks and Urban Systems Centre Research Group, University of Greenwich (2025).

Media activity

University of Greenwich business research showcased at NATO event. (press release link)

Recent publications

Presentations
  • ‘A Revolution in Military Learning? Uncovering the Potential of Lessons-Learned Processes’, invited King’s College London ‘Military Innovation Network’ briefing, 17 February 2026,
  • ‘Creative U’ prison entrepreneurship phase 1 project findings, at the University of Greenwich Civic Engagement seminar, 6 November 2025.
  • ‘Military Learning: Findings and `implications for the Netherlands Defence Forces; invited knowledge exchange event at the Ministry of Defence (The Hague) and the Netherlands Defence Academy (Breda), 9-10 September 2025.
  • ‘A Revolution in Military Learning? Uncovering the Potential of Lessons-Learned Processes’, invited ESRC NATO project study findings briefing, German Ministry of Defence, Berlin, Germany, 20 May 2025
  • ‘A Revolution in Military Learning? Uncovering the Potential of Lessons-Learned Processes’, invited ESRC NATO project study findings briefing, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK, 17 May 2025.
  • Estonia Case Study findings impact event: Estonian Military Academy/Baltic Defence College (Tartu) and Estonian Defence Forces HQ (Tallinn), Estonia, 15-16 April 2025
  • Portugal Case Study findings impact event: Portuguese Army HQ, Lisbon, Portugal, 15-16 April 2025
  • Rapid Cycle Lessons Learning for NATO:  Invited Lecture & Workshop at NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force HQ, Geilenkirchen, Germany, 22 November 2024
  • ‘A Revolution in Military Learning: Uncovering the Potential of Lessons-Learned Processes’; invited lecture at NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal Workshop, Šamorín, Slovakia, 5 November 2024
  • Organisational Learning in NATO militaries: guest seminar at the Portugal Joint Services Lessons Learned Workshop, Lisbon, 8 October 2024
  • ‘A Revolution in Military Learning: Realising the Potential of Lessons-Learned Processes’, invited lecture and workshop at NATO’s Centres of Excellence Directors Conference, Ingolstadt, Germany 12 July 2024.
  • Conference presentation at the British International Studies Association annual conference, Birmingham (5-7 June, 2024).
  • Invited Presentation at the NATO Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Conference, Lisbon (16-17 April, 2024).
  • Invited Seminars conducted at Estonian Business School, Tallinn (4 February 2023), and Royal Holloway Business School, London (15 October 2023).
  • Invited presentations at NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence biennial conference, Slovakia, October 2023, and Netherlands Military Advanced Staff Course (7 September 2022)
  • Paper presentations at EGOS conferences 2014, 2018, 2021, 2023; 2024; 2025; PROS (Process Research for Organisation Studies) 2022; PHILOS (Philosophy of Organisation Studies) conferences 2022, 2023; SMJ 2010.