Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Alistair MacAuley
Course Director
Dr Alistair MacAuley is an academic leader and educator dedicated to developing the next generation of business and management professionals. As Course Director for Business Management & Pathways, he leads a large and diverse undergraduate portfolio, including a significant international cohort, driving curriculum innovation, applied learning, and student empowerment. With a background in retail, operations, and consultancy, he ensures graduates develop the confidence, practical skills, and insight needed to succeed in a complex and evolving world. His research explores how students’ university experiences shape who they believe they can become, drawing on the theory of possible selves and a Wittgensteinian language games approach to analyse how meaning, belonging, and aspiration are formed, leading to the development of the Possible Selves and Language Games Framework to support students’ identity development and future potential.
About
Dr Alistair MacAuley is an academic leader and educator dedicated to developing the next generation of business and management professionals. As Course Director for Business Management & Pathways, he leads a large and diverse undergraduate portfolio, including a significant international cohort, driving curriculum innovation, applied learning, and student empowerment. With a background in retail, operations, and consultancy, he ensures graduates develop the confidence, practical skills, and insight needed to succeed in a complex and evolving world. His research explores how students’ university experiences shape who they believe they can become, drawing on the theory of possible selves and a Wittgensteinian language games approach to analyse how meaning, belonging, and aspiration are formed, leading to the development of the Possible Selves and Language Games Framework to support students’ identity development and future potential.
Dr Alistair MacAuley is an experienced academic leader and educator focused on developing the next generation of business and management professionals. As Course Director for Business Management & Pathways, he leads a large and diverse undergraduate portfolio, including a significant international cohort. He drives curriculum innovation, embeds applied learning, and creates high-impact learning environments that empower students to succeed. Drawing on extensive industry experience in retail, operations, and consultancy, he ensures graduates develop the confidence, commercial awareness, and practical capability needed to thrive in a complex and evolving business landscape.
His research explores how students’ university experiences shape who they believe they can become, drawing on the theory of possible selves and a Wittgensteinian language games perspective to examine how identity, belonging, and aspiration are formed. This work has led to the development of the Possible Selves and Language Games Framework, a theoretically grounded and practically applied approach that supports educators in enhancing student engagement, identity development, and future-focused outcomes.
Related links
Research interests
Dr Alistair MacAuley’s research explores the journeys of Business and Management students, focusing on how their university experiences shape who they believe they can become. Drawing on the theory of possible selves, his work examines how students engage with their past experiences, navigate present challenges, and construct imagined futures.
Adopting a Wittgensteinian perspective, and specifically the concept of language games, he analyses student narratives to understand how meaning, belonging, and aspiration are formed within the higher education context. This research has led to the development of the Possible Selves and Language Games Framework, a practical and theoretically grounded tool designed to support educators in fostering students’ identity development and future potential.
