Peter Docherty holds a B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics and a M.Phil.and Ph.D. in Psychology from the the University of London. He is a D.Sc. (docent) in Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics and is a senior researcher at the National Institute for Working Life, Stockholm, and the Fenix Programme at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Recent developments in the economic contexts of many organisations, combined with popular management systems and practices have resulted in a steady increase in the level of work intensity in the work place and an imbalance in the attention given the long-term development of organisations regarding both learning, creativity and innovativeness. A primary theme is his research is the development and management of sustainable work systems which aim to sustain and re-generate human resources as well as realising other stakeholders goals.

A second main theme in his research concerns learning and the organisation of knowledge and skills at different levels in organisations: the individual, group, organisational and network levels. Different projects concern different target groups, from the development of the roles of shop-floor personnel, of new organisational capabilities and of inter-organisational networks. Specific issue in such development processes is the character of personnel's participation and the impacts of new information technology.

These research issues are mainly studied in service contexts, such as knowledge intensive product development, financial and health services.