Who’s Speaking at HR Retail Africa 2026

Dr Marnie Gibson

Marnie would like to be known as a ‘pracademic’; a working practitioner whose curiosity and appetite for learning drives academic research in her field of human resources. Originally completing a Bachelor of English at Curtin University and training in performing arts at WA Academy of Performing Arts and the Victorian College of the Arts, Marnie balanced her passion for the arts and performance with a career in human resources. Over her career, she has worked in HR leadership roles in multi-national retail and FMCG companies, government, financial services, mining and professional services in Australia and in global roles. Marnie has predominantly worked in generalist roles partnering businesses in all people matters and later completed her Masters in HRM. Her experience working across Asia with remote workers prompted the progression of doctoral research and in 2021 she graduated from USQ with her thesis titled, ‘Employee engagement antecedents and outcomes: perceptions of what engagement looks like for remote workers’. This study focused on leading and engaging remote employees which became incredibly relevant with the onset of Covid in 2020. Marnie is looking forward to taking these insights on engagement and the future of work into more organisations to enable a better work experience for employees and improved business outcomes. She also lectures in and designs undergrad and postgrad programs at UniSQ and Victoria University to impart her practical experience with the HR professionals of the future.