Hilary Bradbury, Ph.D.
Curator Director
Dr. Hilary Bradbury is CEO and Curator at AR+
Hilary Bradbury, Ph.D. – Scholar & Advocate for Sustainability
Dr. Hilary Bradbury is a leading expert in sustainability and action research, dedicated to transformative social and ecological change. She has been professor at Case Western Reserve University, USC, and OHSU, focusing on organizational change, sustainability, and collaborative learning.
As Founder of AR+ (Action Research Plus Foundation) and Editor-in-Chief of the Action Research Journal, she leads global initiatives supporting educator-change leaders and universities in sustainability transformations. Her work emphasizes participatory action research, developmental reflexivity, and social learning to address eco-social challenges.
Dr. Bradbury has contributed to large-scale sustainability projects, including carbon reduction in multinational supply chains and NSF-funded research on environmental sustainability. She has authored high-impact publications, including the Handbooks of Action Research and How to Do Action Research Transformations (2022).
Recognized globally, she has been named Distinguished Professor at De La Salle University (Philippines) and Chalmers Jubilee Professor (Sweden). Through research, mentorship, and partnerships, she helps shape the future of sustainability through transformative education.
Early examples of Hilary's scholarship include multi-year action research with National Science Foundation funding, and designing and leading a multi stakeholder learning process with the Port of Los Angeles to integrate environmental sustainability into the functioning of the port so that multinational supply chains reduced carbon emissions.
Hilary grew up in Dublin, Ireland. Her undergraduate and early graduate education was at Trinity College Dublin and then at the Divinity Schools of Harvard and University of Chicago where she focused on Philosophy, Religion and Literature. Her PhD is from Boston College (in Organizational Change and Transformation).
Hilary recently rematriated home to Ireland where she lives with her family. Her latest book How to do Action Research Transformations: ART at a time of eco-social crisis is published by Elgar (Bradbury, 2022). See also a more personal statement at the AR+ members page.
Contact: admin@actionresearchplus.com
Hilary Bradbury at Chalmers U.
Hello, Hilary Bradbury, Ph.D., founder & principal at AR+ Foundation here. I am a scholar-practitioner focused on the human and organizational dimensions of creating healthy communities. Having been a Professor of Organizational Development for over twenty years, I now support educators of all types as well as educational institutions in transforming their response to the social-ecological crisis of our times. For this I emphasize the integration of research and practice, as “Action Research for Transformations” (ART).
I play a community organizing role among action researchers worldwide, also reflected in my position as Editor in Chief of the international peer reviewed Action Research Journal (Sage). I believe that action researchers can accomplish more together and that action research transformations is needed more today than ever. My intention is to help develop and sync up the efforts of increasing numbers of global participative action researchers.
Sustainability is at the heart of my own ART. Early examples include multi-year projects with NSF funding, e.g., I designed and led multi stakeholder work with the Port of Los Angeles to integrate environmental sustainability into the functioning of the port. Our results influenced multinational supply chains as well as national port policy in reducing carbon intensity.
I increasingly emphasize a more relational and developmental-integrative approach to ART. Practicing to turn the camera around on ourselves is to rediscover our radical wholeness. By valuing our personal experience we're also updating conventional analytic-conceptual training; we're learning to experiment in bringing more beauty to life.
Most dear to my heart is integrating mindfulness and daily life. I have served as a member of the Teaching Circle at the Zen Center of Portland, where I led the "Next Gen Zen" program. I continue that integration today in all parts of my life and work. In balance with my vision of a more beautiful world, is having been tempered by political experience e.g., having won election as a Green Party member in LA.
I enjoy writing and have authored dozens of journal articles and chapters as well as shepherding the bestselling series Handbooks of Action Research (Sage), and the more accessible volumes of the multilingual AR+ Cookbooks (Bradbury and AR+ Associates, 2017, 2019). I relish working at my developmental edge, e.g., uncovering a collaborative response to #MeToo in Eros/Power: Love in the Spirit of Inquiry (Integral Publishers, 2016, with Bill Torbert). I am always at work on new writing.
I grew up in Dublin, Ireland. My undergraduate and early graduate education was at Trinity College Dublin and then at the Divinity Schools of Harvard and University of Chicago where I focused on Philosophy, Religion and Literature. My PhD is in Organizational Change and Transformation (Bill Torbert and Peter Senge were dissertation advisors), from Boston College's School of Management. I started my academic career as Assistant Professor of Organizational Development at Case Western in 1998. I also spent a few years as Associate Research Professor of Geography while a Director at the USC Center for Sustainable Cities. I moved to Portland's OHSU in 2010. I have since resigned as full Professor to dedicate myself to ActionResearchPlus/AR+ Foundation.
At AR+ I am grateful for the delightful opportunity of bringing many strands of myself together with diverse stewards and personal members as we create a powerful collaborative matrix in service of a more beautiful world.
I live with my family in Portland, Oregon where I love the bike lanes and get to cultivate a garden.
Contact: Admin@actionresearchplus.com