Professor Tatiana Bachkirova

MEd, MSc, PhD

Professor of Coaching Psychology

Oxford Brookes Business School

Role

In my academic role of Professor of Coaching Psychology my responsibilities include teaching on the MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice; research and academic supervision of doctoral students; supervision of the coaches for Oxford Brookes programmes.

I am also Founder of the International Conference on Coaching Supervision and Programme Lead for the Oxford Brookes Programme of Advanced Study in Coaching Supervision.

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Modules taught

  • Psychology of Coaching and Mentoring

 

Supervision

DCM and PhD:

  • Angela Wright Phd
  • David Britten PhD
  • Colin Woods PhD
  • Jo Miles DCM
  • Larissa Thurlow PhD
  • Nick Anderson PhD

Research Students

Name Thesis title Completed
Cornelia Bogatu Exploring identity development of independent professional coaches - a narrative study Active
Bozkurt Cendey Phenomenological research on user experiences of AI coaching Active
Sebastian Fox Team members' and team coaches' perceptions of the most productive parts of their sessions Active

Research

My research projects include 'Development of an instrument for microanalysis of coaching sessions' funded by the Institute of Coaching at Harvard University, which is now published. I also researched the topic of 'Self-deception in Coaching' involving investigation of this phenomenon with a group of experienced coaching supervisors. The result of this project are now published in two papers: empirical and conceptual. 

I am currently working now on theorising coaching with using philosophical pragmatism as a meta perspective with particular focus on developmental coaching. I continue to publish and present on this topic. 

The most recent research project funded the Institute of Coaching aims at exploring content of coaching conversations with a view of developing taxonomy of coaching themes and conceptualising developmental needs of leaders.

Research impact

Influencing the professional standards of coaching, and contributing to the development of coaching as an applied discipline. 

Creating a solid basis for the education and development of coaching practitioners. Challenging the oversimplified/underdeveloped rationale of coaching training and education, creating a shift in thinking and practice on coach education and training, which has traditionally been limited to a skills-focused approach. 

A new model for assessment of coaches is developed that places the notion of capability in addition to competence acknowledging a complex array of factors in the self of the coach that influence coaching interactions. The notion of capability has been translated into the mechanisms of coach assessment more congruent with complexity of coaching practice. 
 
Development of the Knowledge Portal, a website that provides access to many organisations involved in developing original knowledge of coaching. The knowledge providers around the globe will share the activities and projects that contribute to the development of the knowledge base of coaching.  This website, initiated by the `Future of Coaching Collaboration’ (FCC), allows anyone interested in coaching, as a contributor or user, (e.g. potential organisational purchasers of coaching, individual clients, new students of coaching, researchers and policy makers) to access information about the contribution to coaching knowledge by various providers. This website aims to assist in the dissemination of knowledge in coaching communities and in society as a whole and connect knowledge creators.

 

Centres and institutes

Publications

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Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

  • Chartered Occupational Psychologist
  • Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS) (from November 2011)
  • Visiting Professor in The National Research University ""Higher School of Economics"" (HSE) - one of the leading and largest universities in Russia. The appointment is held at the department of Psychoanalysis and Business Consulting
  • Teaching Fellow of Oxford Brookes University
  • Founder of the International Conference in Coaching Supervision
  • Member of the editorial boards in four journals: Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, International Coaching Psychology Review, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring and Philosophy of Coaching: An International Journal.
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the professional magazine Coaching at Work
  • Harnisch Scholar (Harvard Medical School, Institute of Coaching)
  • Member of the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) at the Institute of Coaching at Harvard
  • Advisor at the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council
  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the International Centre for Coaching Psychology Research in the ISCP (International Society for Coaching Psychology)
  • Associated Member of the 'Coaching Studies FHNW' group at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (www.coaching-studies.ch)
  • Honorary Research Fellow of the ISCP (International Society for Coaching Psychology) International Centre for Coaching Psychology Research. 

Conferences

  • Keynote for the Institute of Coaching congress, Boston, USA, April 2023
  • Keynote for DBVC (German Federal Association for Business Coaching) Congress, Germany, Berlin, November 2022
  • Keynote for the Annual conference of ESRAD: European Society for Research in Adult Development, London 30 June 2022
  • Keynote for the Australia Career Association National Conference, Sydney, Australia, May 2022
  • Keynote presentation at the EAWOP Coaching Research meeting in Berlin, Germany, December 2021.
  • Keynote presentation for UCSMA, Sydney University, Australia, 18 November 2021.
  • Keynote presentation for the 4th International Columbia Coaching Conference at the Columbia University, New York, USA, 13-15 October 2021.
  • Keynote presentation for the 10th Coaching Psychology Congress Italy, 13 March 2021.
  • Keynote presentation for the International Congress in Coaching Psychology (online), 9 October 2020.
  • Keynote presentation for the Evidence-based Coaching Conference at the University of Sydney, Australia, 15th and 16th February 2020.
  • Keynote presentation for the Americas Conference in Coaching Supervision, Montreal, Canada, 13-14 June 2019
  • Keynote presentation for the conference of GSAEC: Graduate School Alliance for Education in Coaching at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 7-8 June 2019
  • Keynote presentation for the Coaching conference of the Business Coaching Institute, Helsinki, Finland, 23 May 2019.
  • Invited presentation for COMENSA, coaching association of the South African coaches, Cape Town, SA, 29 March 2019.
  • Invited presentation on the self of the professional coaches for AC in the USA, New York, USA, 20 February 2019.
  • Keynote lecture for the Coaching Conference celebrating 10th jubilee of lectures series “Coaching – research and practice”, University of Copenhagen, 15 November 2018
  • Keynote presentation at the Coaching Psychology congress at the University of Aalborg, Multiplicity of the Self: problem or opportunity for coaching? Denmark, 13-14 September 2018
  • Keynote for conference of the ESRAD: European Society for Research in Adult Development Adult Development theories: from the ‘No Man’s Land’ to practical application in coaching, University of Greenwich, 25-27 May 2018
  • Featured presentation, delivered at the leadership coaching research track at the 2017 Institute of Coaching/Harvard Medical School Coaching Conference, 13-14 October 2017, Boston, USA
  • Invited presentation for Association of Coaching: Multiplicity of the self: problem or opportunity for coaching?  London: 26 June 2017
  • Supervising the Competent Self and the Dialogic Self of the coach, paper to present at the 7th International Conference on Coaching Supervision, 13 May, 2017, Oxford
  • A presentation in the Distinguished Speakers series at Goldsmiths University for MSc Occupational Psychology students, London, 20 March 2017
  • Keynote presentation “Working through the limited ways of seeing the self” presented at the Welsh Coaching Conference, 16 March 2017
  • Invited member of the panel at the EURAM Symposium ‘Critical perspective on collaboration in coaching’, 1- 4 June 2016, Paris
  • Keynote presentation at the BACP Practitioner Coaching conference, 30 April 2016, London, UK
  • Keynote presentation at the 3rd European Congress in Coaching Psychology, 10-11 December 2015, London
  • Being a coach in the world aspiring for postmodern leadership, invited presentation at the International Colloquium in Coaching and Leadership in ESMT/Ket de Vries Institute, Berlin, 3-4 December 2015
  • Three conceptions of Self for applied purposes, presentation at the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Annual Conference, BPS, Sidney Sussex, University of Cambridge, 9-11 September 2015
  • Invited presentation ‘100 reasons to dislike supervision’ at the Coaching at Work conference, London, 1 July 2025
  • Invited presentation on leadership coaching research at the workshop for researchers held by Oxford University Said Business School, Oxford, 29-30 June 2015
  • Coaching Supervision: nice to have, need to have or no need to have, presentation with Peter Jackson at the Coaching conference in Bournemouth, 26 May 2015
  • Keynote Presentation at The University of Waikato Coaching and Mentoring Conference: Transforming Together, Hamilton, New Zealand, 8-10 April 2015
  • Keynote Presentation for The 5th International Congress on Coaching Psychology, hosted by the Society of Consulting Psychology (Division 13 of the American Psychological Association), San Diego, 3-4 February 2015
  • Chairing the stream ‘Individual Development and Coaching Psychology’ at The 4th International Congress of Coaching Psychology, London, 11 – 12 December 2014
  • Positioning individual development as a subject of coaching psychology, mini-keynote Presentation for the 4th International Congress on Coaching Psychology, 11-12 December 2014
  • Bachkirova, T. and Lawton-Smith, C. (2014) 'From critique to raising the bar in relation to assessment of capabilities of coaches'. Paper presented at the 21st Annual EMCC Mentoring and Coaching Conference, Venice, November.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2012) 'Nature of evidence, quality of research and self-deception in coaching and coaching psychology'. Paper presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference of the Special Group in Coaching Psychology, Birmingham, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2012) 'Working with self-deception of coaches in supervision'. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference in Coaching Supervision, Oxford, June.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2012) 'Developmental Coaching: Working with the Self'. Paper presented at the Psychometric Forum, London, May.
  • Bachkirova, T., Myers, A. and Sibley, J. (2012) 'Design and Application of an instrument for microanalysis of the coaching session: a research project'. Paper presented at the Oxford Brookes - Burgundy Business School Joint Research Conference, Oxford, May.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2012) 'Keynote presentation and pre-conference workshop ‘Coaching the Self: an new framework for developmental coaching'. Paper presented at the Coaching and Mentoring conference, Johannesburg, South Africa, March.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2012) 'Keynote presentation and a workshop ‘Insights from coaching psychology’'. Paper presented at the University of Hong Kong Coaching Conference, Hong Kong, February.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2011) 'Towards Being a Developmentally-Minded Coaching Supervisor'. Paper presented at the 1st International Congress of Coaching Psychology, London, December.
  • Bachkirova, T., Sibley, J. and Myers, A. (2011) 'Application of an instrument for microanalysis of the coaching session: a research project'. Paper presented at the SGCP 3rd European Coaching Psychology Conference, London, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2011) 'Developmental Coaching: a new approach to practice, a masterclass'. Paper presented at the SGCP 3rd European Coaching Psychology Conference, London, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2011) 'Complexity of coaching themes and self-deception in coaches'. Paper presented at the International Colloquium in Coaching and Leadership in ESMT/Ket de Vries Institute, Berlin, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2011) 'Four challenges of developmental coaching and the idea of organic change'. Paper presented at the 18th Annual European Coaching and Mentoring Conference, Paris, November.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2011) 'A new framework for developmental coaching'. Paper presented at the BACP Coaching conference, London, June.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2011) 'Three conceptions of the self for applied purposes'. Paper presented at the Toward a Science of Consciousness 2011: Brain, Mind and Reality Conference, Stockholm University, Sweden, May.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2010) 'How can we coach if there is no free will'. Paper presented at the 17th Annual European Coaching and Mentoring Conference, Dublin, November.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2009) 'The three foci of Developmental Coaching'. Paper presented at the 3rd European Coaching Psychology Conference, Royal Holloway University, London, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2009) 'Coaching the Self: A frameword for developmental coaching'. Paper presented at the 16th EMMC conference, Amsterdam, November.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2008) 'Self-deception in coaching'. Paper presented at the 14th Annual EMCC Conference, Prague, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2008) 'On the use of self in coaching'. Paper presented at the 1st European Coaching Psychology Conference, University of Westminster, London, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. and Cox, E. (2007) 'Coaching with emotion'. Paper presented at the EMCC Annual Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, October.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2006) 'Working with self-concept in development coaching'. Paper presented at the 1st International Coaching Psychology Conference, Place, December.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2006) 'Organisations, individual values and stress in academia'. Paper presented at the Westminster Institute Research Conference, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, January.
  • Bachkirova, T., Cox, E. and Patrick, C. (2005) 'Coaching with emotion: A research project'. Paper presented at the Second Australian Conference on Evidence-Based Coaching, University of Sydney, January.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2003) 'Personal values and teacher stress: An exploratory study'. Paper presented at the EERA Conference, Hamburg, January.
  • Bachkirova, T. (2000) 'Confidence versus self-worth in adult learning'. Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium 'Improving Students Learning Strategically, Oxford, September, pp. pages, ISBN

Consultancy

Programme Lead for the Oxford Brookes Programme of Advanced Study in Coaching Supervision.

Further details

  • Excellence in Coaching Research Award by the Institute of Coaching, USA in 2023
  • Award for outstanding contribution to coaching psychology by International Society for Coaching Psychology in 2020
  • Award from the EMCC in Coaching Supervision 2018
  • In 2017 received an award from the Institute of Coaching at Harvard in honor of a decade of inspiring and supporting coaching science as a member of the Scientific Advisory Council.
  • In 2015 won the award for influence by the Coaching at Work: External Coach Champion 2015.
  • Holder of Achievement Award (2011) from the British Psychological Society SGCP in recognition of Distinguished Contribution to Coaching Psychology