{"id":23565,"date":"2026-08-06T17:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/?p=23565"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:00:55","slug":"meet-our-mba-director-dr-maria-balta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/2026\/08\/meet-our-mba-director-dr-maria-balta\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Dr Maria Balta, our MBA Director"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\">Maria is passionate about delivering an MBA that transforms how professionals lead, equipping them to navigate change responsibly and make an impact within their organisations and beyond.\n<\/p>\n<div>Alongside leading and teaching on the MBA, Maria is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management. Her research explores how digital technologies can support the pivoting of business models, organisational resilience and effective crisis response.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>This focus on responsible change extends to her international research. Maria is currently a co-investigator on a project supporting smallholder women farmers in Brazil and Nigeria to adapt to climate change through conservation agriculture, with the aim of improving climate resilience and economic stability in vulnerable farming communities.<\/div>\n<p>Maria&#8217;s work brings together responsible leadership, digital innovation and real-world impact.<\/p>\n<p>We asked Maria to share her thoughts on her role, the Kent MBA and what makes the programme distinctive.<\/p>\n<h2>What excites you about teaching the MBA?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cKent Business School is a fantastic environment to learn, challenge, and grow. It gives academics the opportunity to and create real business impact and build a strong research profile. For those teaching on the MBA, we bring practical insights and learning informed by the latest academic research into the classroom. We help professionals understand organisations holistically, think strategically, and manage responsibly. At the same time, I enjoy seeing future leaders question the status quo, push boundaries, and reinvent themselves!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What makes the MBA such an essential qualification for businesspeople today?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIn a period of profound transition, the MBA develops future leaders by supporting their professional development. We create leaders who can adapt and explore their potential to create opportunities for their organisations, their sector, their communities and themselves. It\u2019s transformational.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>When you are not teaching or conducting research, what makes you happiest?<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Reading, watching movies and relaxing with family and friends!&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Hear more from Maria in the latest MBA video.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='1140' height='672' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DH2Ho1GuEhg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Find out more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kent.ac.uk\/kent-business-school\/mba\">the Kent MBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>About Maria<\/h3>\n<p><em>Maria holds a PhD in Management Studies funded by Leventis Foundation and MSc in Human Resources and Employment Relations both from Brunel University London. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Academic Member of CIPD.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Over the years, Maria has held several leadership roles within the school, including Director of Research and Innovation Lead, Director of the MSc in Human Resource Management, TEF Coordinator and Chief Examiner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Maria is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and recipient of the University of Kent Graduate and Researcher College Prize for Programme Academic Lead.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maria is passionate about delivering an MBA that transforms how professionals lead, equipping them to navigate change responsibly and make an impact within their organisations &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/2026\/08\/meet-our-mba-director-dr-maria-balta\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84053,"featured_media":23574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[54,9890,9875,124,9111],"tags":[112454,170946,70,57671,722],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84053"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23565"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23589,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23565\/revisions\/23589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}