Research Areas

Project management; Organisational behaviour; Human-AI interaction.
 

Biography

Alicia Gilchrist (née Mazur) is a Lecturer in Project Management. Drawing on her background as a registered psychologist, Alicia’s research investigates cognition and behaviour in projects. Current project management projects include:

• Strategic misrepresentation in projects 
• The impact of cognitive bias in projects 
• Emotional skills and project leadership team performance

Alicia also conducts research on artificial intelligence (AI) with current research projects focusing on: 

• Personalised large language model persuasion in security guard recruitment
• Designing AI-resilient postgraduate learning through transdisciplinary assessment.
• Reactive to proactive: Large language models as persuasive interventions to deter 
  cybercrime

Alicia is a Guest Editor for the International Journal of Project Management’s Special Issue on 'Project Cognition as the Foundation for Project Behaviour'. Her research has been published in leading project management journals including the International Journal of Project Management, the Project Management Journal, Production, Planning and Control and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. 
 

Grants and Industry Partnerships 

• Supporting Security Guards at Work. Gilchrist, A. (CI), Madison, K. (CI), Zwikael, O. (CI), & Zarghami, A. (CI). MSS Security. October 2026 - April 2028.
• Reactive to proactive: Large language models as persuasive interventions to deter 
  cybercrime. Orbes Cervantes, I (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), Gilchrist, A. (Supervisor). National Intelligence Postdoctoral Grant (NIPG). August 2026 - August 2028. 
• Artificial Intelligence as a Means of Persuasion and Attitude Change. Hirst, G. (CI), Gilchrist, A. (CI), Platow, M. (CI), Wells, J. 15 May 2025 – 5 August 2026.
• Platow, M. (CI), Gilchrist, A. (CI), Hirst, G. (CI), Huynh, H. (CI), Newman, E. (CI), Reynolds, K. (CI), Tay, L. Q. (CI). Rapid Report to the Chief Scientist of Australia. 23 October 2024 – 10 January 2025.
   

Journal Articles

• Zwikael, O., Gilchrist, A., Omeagher, A., Haley, A., (2026). When and how cognitive bias enhances project investment decisions. Project Management Journal. Forthcoming. [ABDC B]
• Gilchrist, A., & Zarghami, S. A. (2026). From systems metaphors to project manager intelligence: Fostering stakeholder relationships. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 1-16. [ABDC A] 
• Stingl, V., Gilchrist, A., Lawani, A., Flin, R., & Zwikael, O. (2025). Call for papers: Project cognition as the foundation of project behaviour. International Journal of Project Management. [ABDC A*]
• Aubry, M., Floricel, S., Gilchrist, A., Kirkham, R. J., Samset, K., van Wee, B., & Zwikael, O. (2025). Paradoxes and trade-offs in the front-end process of large public projects. Production Planning & Control, 36, 2091-2108. [ABDC A] 
• Stingl, V., Gilchrist, A., Lawani, A., Flin, R., & Zwikael, O. (2025). Thinking is for doing: Project cognition as the foundation of project behaviour. International Journal of Project Management, 43, 102678. [ABDC A*] 
• Zwikael, O., & Gilchrist, A. (2025). A structured process for the fuzzy front-end of complex projects. Production Planning & Control, 36, 863-872. [ABDC A] 
• Zwikael, O., & Gilchrist, A. (2023). Planning to fail: When is project planning counterproductive? IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 63, 65-, 220-231. [ABDC A] 
• Burton-Jones, A., Gilchrist, A., Green, P., & Draheim, M. (2020). Improving social alignment during digital transformation. Communications of the ACM, 65-71. [ABDC A] 
• Gilchrist, A., Burton-Jones, A., & Green, P. (2018). The process of social alignment and misalignment within a complex IT project. International Journal of Project Management, 36, 845–860. [ABDC A*] 
• Newton, C., & Mazur, A. (2016). Value congruence and job-related attitudes in a nonprofit organisation. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27, 1013-1033. [ABDC A] 
• Mazur, A., & Pisarski, A. (2015). Stakeholder relationships in major projects: Scale development and validation. International Journal of Project Management, 33, 1680–1691. [ABDC A*] 
• Gallagher, E., Mazur, A., & Ashkanasy, A. (2015). Project demands, performance, and abusive supervision. Project Management Journal, 46, 10–24. [ABDC B] 
• Mazur, A., Pisarski, A., Chang, A., & Ashkanasy, N. (2014). Rating Defence major-project success. International Journal of Project Management, 32, 944–957. [ABDC A*]
   

Guest Editor 

• Gilchrist, A., Stingl, V., Laweni, A., Zwikael, O., & Flin, R. (Publication expected Q1 2027). Project Cognition as the Foundation of Project Behaviour. International Journal of Project Management [ABDC A*].
   

Book Chapters

• Gilchrist, A., Zwikael, O., Garanovich, I., Weir, T., & Gunton, M. (2026). The role of leadership in enhancing project investment decisions. In The Palgrave Handbook of Strategy, Change and Transformational Project Leadership (pp. 195-209). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. 
• Zwikael, O., Gilchrist, A., & Meredith, J. (2025). Setting realistic project goals. In The Cambridge Handbook of Project Behaviour (pp. 201-215). UK: Cambridge University Press. 
• Zwikael, O., & Gilchrist, A. (2022). The logic of the project front-end. In The Front-End of Large Public Projects (pp. 43-68).
   

Conference Papers 

• Gilchrist, A., Highfield, K., & Thompson, S. (2026). Designing AI-resilient postgraduate learning through transdisciplinary assessment (HERDSA), 6-9 July. Singapore. 
• Gilchrist, A., & Zwikael. O. (2026). Motivation, Moral Ambiguity and Strategic Misrepresentation in Projects (IRNOP), 2-5 June. Delft, Netherlands.
• Smith, A., & Gilchrist, A. (2026). Ontological Foundations of Project Studies: A Review and Framework for Research Practice (EURAM). 17-19 June. Norway. 
• Zwikael, O., & Gilchrist, A. (2024). How does cognitive bias affect project investment decisions? (IRNOP), 11–14 June. Stockholm, Sweden.
• Gilchrist, A., Hatcher, C., & Ashkanasy, N. (2024). Project manager attributes and the stakeholder relationship (ANZAM), 3-5 December. Wollongong, Australia. 
• Newton, C. J., & Gilchrist, A. (2016). Improving management accountants’ perception of their occupation’s prestige: The role of professional identification and transformational leadership (ANZAM conference), 6–9 December, Brisbane, Qld. 
• Devin, B., Mazur, A., & Newton, C. (2015). Organizational socialization: An Australian Army perspective (ICAC). San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Chang, A., Mazur, A., Jordan, P., Ashkanasy, N., & Barbour, J. (2015). Is member-rated project success influenced by leadership team emotional intelligence? (SIOP), 22-25 April. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Mazur, A., & Pisarski, A. (2013). The ISR and ESR scales: Measures of the project manager–stakeholder relationship (BAM), 10–12 September. Liverpool, United Kingdom.
• Mazur, A., Pisarski, A., Chang, A., & Ashkanasy, N. (2013). Rating Defence major-project success: The role of personal attributes and stakeholder relationships (AOM), 9-14 August. Orlando, Florida.
• Mazur, A., Pisarski, A., & Ashkanasy, N. (2011). Person-environment fit: Project leader–stakeholder relationships in a complex project environment (ANZAM), 7-9 December. Wellington, New Zealand.
• Pisarski, A., Chang, A., Ashkanasy, N., Zolin, R., Mazur, A., Jordan, P., & Hatcher, C. A. (2011). The contribution of leadership attributes to large-scale, complex project success (AOM), 12-16 August. San Antonio, Texas.
   

Symposium and Workshop Presentations

• Gilchrist, A., Hirst, G., & Platow, M. (2025). Rethinking Persuasion in the Age of AI: A Reinterpretation of the Shannon-Weaver Communication Model (Academy of Management Review Idea Development Workshop), 21 August. Brisbane, QLD. 
• Gilchrist, A., & Zwikael, O. (2023). Enhancing intelligence analyst’s decision making. Defence Human Sciences Symposium (DHSS), 5-8 December. Brisbane, QLD.
• Burton-Jones, A., Gilchrist, A., Green, P., & Smidt, M. (2016). An institutional theory account of how governance affects alignment and performance outcomes in a complex IS project (Journal of the Association for Information Systems Theory Development Workshop), 11 December. Dublin, Ireland. 
• Burton-Jones, A., Green, P., Mazur, A., & Smidt, M. (2016). Exploring governance uncertainty in a complex information systems project (Information Systems Foundations Workshop: Theorising Digital Innovation), 15-16 September. Canberra, ACT.
   

Teaching

• MGMT7170: Tools and Techniques for Business Project Management
• MGMT7024: Project Monitoring and Control
• MGMT3002: Techniques for Business Project Management