Peter Sheldon
School of Management and Governance - BEc(Hons), Sydney | PhD, Wollongong | Golda Meir Postdoctoral Fellowship Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel
Professor Peter Sheldon is an esteemed academic in the School of Management and Governance at UNSW Sydney. With a rich educational background, his bachelor's degree in economics (with honours in industrial relations) and PhD in Australian industrial relations (IR) history are complemented by a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology. His interdisciplinary approach integrates diverse social sciences and historical perspectives to better understand and explain complex organizational and societal dynamics.
Professor Sheldon’s international experiences in Italy and Israel have shaped his extensive research in comparative industrial relations. His work focuses particularly on employer associations across Australia, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Singapore, and China. This includes studying their external roles in collective bargaining, policy development, and lobbying, as well as their internal challenges as voluntary organizations navigating uncertainty.
His research portfolio also encompasses international trends in collective bargaining, Australian IR history, human resource management (HRM) in China—especially firms' responses to local skills shortages—and ‘Just Transition’ strategies for coal-energy workers and their communities.
A passionate educator, Professor Sheldon has designed and taught courses on negotiation skills to undergraduates, master’s students, AGSM MBA students (Hong Kong), and executive education participants. Recently, he has returned to teaching international comparative employment relations, integrating his research insights into the classroom to engage and inspire students.