Khalid Saleem is the Founder of Manchester Online Research Academy (MORA), a researcher, published author and former financial-market professional based in Manchester, United Kingdom.
His professional and academic journey has taken him from the inter-bank money market to advanced legal research. Before entering academia, he worked in banking and financial markets, including as a Senior Money Market Dealer, where research, analysis, risk assessment and informed decision-making formed part of everyday professional practice.
He later moved into legal and academic research, completing an LLM in International Business Law and progressing to doctoral research in Law. His research focuses on legal design, governance, anti-corruption frameworks and financial crime.
This combination of professional and academic experience shaped the idea behind MORA: research is not something that belongs only in universities. Whether analysing financial markets, examining a legal problem, writing an article, preparing a lecture or conducting a PhD, the underlying process involves asking questions, gathering information, analysing evidence and reaching informed conclusions.
Through MORA, Khalid aims to make that process easier to understand and more practical for students, researchers and professionals.
Research Interests
Khalid’s research interests include anti-corruption law and policy, legal design and governance, financial crime, anti-money laundering frameworks, comparative legal research, research methodology, and qualitative and doctrinal legal research.
His work is particularly interested in the relationship between law on paper and law in practice: how legal frameworks are designed, how institutions implement them, and why apparently comprehensive regulatory systems may still produce gaps in enforcement and governance.
Doctoral Research
Khalid’s doctoral research critically examines the legal design adopted by the UK Government to curb corruption.
The research considers anti-corruption not simply through individual pieces of legislation, but as a wider system involving legislation, institutions, governance arrangements, enforcement mechanisms and policy implementation. It also uses comparative analysis involving the United Kingdom, India and Singapore to examine how different legal and institutional designs respond to corruption.
Books & Publications
Khalid Saleem is the author of Research Methodology for Social Sciences: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate, Masters and PhD Researchers.
The book was developed from his experience of academic research and is designed to make research methodology easier to understand and apply. It covers the research process from developing a research problem and research questions through research philosophy, methodology, methods, literature review, data analysis, ethics and academic writing.
His wider writing and research examine anti-corruption frameworks, governance, financial crime, legal design and research methodology.
From Financial Markets to Research
Before entering academic research, Khalid worked in banking and financial markets, including the inter-bank money market.
That experience continues to influence his approach to research. Financial markets require information to be examined quickly, evidence to be assessed carefully and decisions to be made under changing conditions.
Academic research operates differently, but the underlying principles of asking the right questions, examining evidence and reaching informed conclusions remain important.
This combination of professional and academic experience shaped the idea behind Manchester Online Research Academy.
Manchester Online Research Academy
Khalid Saleem founded Manchester Online Research Academy (MORA) to make research methodology more accessible to students, researchers and professionals.
The Academy provides practical learning materials covering research methodology, research methods, research design, academic writing and the wider research process.
The central idea behind MORA is simple: research should be rigorous without being unnecessarily difficult to understand.
Whether someone is preparing an undergraduate dissertation, Master’s research project, doctoral thesis or independent research, MORA aims to explain research in clear and practical language.
Research & Insights
Khalid regularly writes on subjects connected with research methodology, anti-corruption, legal design, governance and financial crime.
His articles and research insights explore both academic and practical questions, with particular attention to how legal and regulatory frameworks operate in practice.
Articles and research commentary by Khalid Saleem are published through Manchester Online Research Academy and his professional platforms.
Academic & Professional Profiles
ORCID: 0009-0001-1893-1909
LinkedIn: Khalid Saleem
ResearchGate: Khalid Saleem
Google Scholar: Profile forthcoming