Nela Smolović Jones is a lecturer in organisation studies at the Open University's Department for People and Organisations and founder and director of the research cluster Gendered Organisational Practice, which sits within the academic centre of excellence – REEF. 

Her research focuses on the interface between gender and democratic practice, especially areas such as feminist solidarity building, democratic organising, equality at the workplace and institutional forms of gendered corruption. 

She has worked in the field of democratic development throughout her professional career. Her experience in the monitoring of elections with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations, as well as acting as an interpreter and translator, increased her interest in understanding the ways in which democratic practice can be generated.

Nela has recently co-authored a microcredential for Open University/FutureLearn on Business Management: Improving Organisational Practice.