Nicola McNeil is an Associate Professor in Management at Swinburne University of Technology. She previously served as Head of the Department of Management and Marketing at La Trobe Business School from 2019 to 2024. Nicola earned her PhD from Deakin University and holds both a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University.

A distinguished educator in human resource management and research methods, Nicola was honored with the Vice Chancellor’s Commendation for Excellence in Teaching in 2018 at La Trobe University. Her expertise in developing authentic assessments effectively boosts student learning and engagement.  Her research is committed to advancing gender equality, with a dual focus on the workplace and sports participation. She employs a gender lens to analyze and enhance HR practices that foster sustainable careers and positive outcomes for women. Nicola also investigates the challenges and opportunities for women in sports, having led the evaluation of VicHealth’s This Girl Can campaign and collaborated with Basketball Australia to boost female participation at all levels. Additionally, her work explores how innovative HRM practices can enhance employee involvement and organizational performance, backed by comprehensive multi-level analyses.

Nicola's research has been featured in leading journals such as the Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of HRM, and European Sport Management Quarterly.

Nicola holds a professional membership with the Australian Institute of Human Resource Management (AHRI) and serves as an instructor at ACSPRI, leading courses on computer-assisted qualitative data analysis and mixed methods research for social science researchers.