Business School leads sustainability teaching innovation and research

Liverpool Business School (opens in a new tab) recently hosted innovators from 10 countries in the first European Symposium for Sustainability in Business Education, including Professor Walter Leal (opens in a new tab), a co-author of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (opens in a new tab).

The event showcased innovations and research projects in teaching sustainability in business schools including games, foresight and futures thinking, reflective practices, place-based executive education, embedding social value collaborations, and a state of the art evaluation of Business School commitment to the United Nations’ Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative.

Hosting the event, Professor Tony Wall (opens in a new tab) said: "The event demonstrated a sense of urgency for Business Schools globally to change what they do, and how. We are proud to see that Liverpool Business School (opens in a new tab) is leading some exciting innovations in the field, which will be showcased in a new Springer Handbook as a long term documentation of our event."

Members from the European School of Sustainability Science (opens in a new tab), the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (opens in a new tab), and the UK Consortium for Sustainability Research (opens in a new tab) joined from leading research institutions including Queen Mary, Liverpool, Lancaster, Glasgow, Warwick, Berlin, Hamburg, and Dalhouise universities to showcase their latest work in driving sustainability through business education.

Contributions from Liverpool Business School (opens in a new tab) included:

Embedding social value into educational models – Professor Tony Wall (opens in a new tab), Dr Adam Shore (opens in a new tab), Dr Ann Hindley (opens in a new tab), Dr Jan Brown (opens in a new tab), Dr Konstantina Skritsovali (opens in a new tab) & Dr Madeleine Stevens (opens in a new tab)
Place-based leadership development programmes for Sustainable Cities and Communities – Dr Fiona Armstrong-Gibbs (opens in a new tab) and Lisa Knight
Integrating gamification and participatory learning in Education for Sustainable Development - Dr Konstantina Skritsovali (opens in a new tab)
The use of Business Clinics for sustainability issues and added value – Dr Jan Brown (opens in a new tab)
Incorporating sustainability skills into business teaching through experiential learning – Dr Ann Hindley (opens in a new tab)
Sustainable internationalisation through Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning – Dr Amanda Mason (opens in a new tab), Farrah Robert, Adriana Webb, Augusto Mendes Siega, Ain Kamalia Mazlin & Lee Mei Chee Jamie
The use of digital learning and gamification in business education for sustainability learning – Dr Sue Cronshaw (opens in a new tab) and Mike Drummond (opens in a new tab).

Best Paper Winners included scholars from Sweden, France, Hungary, Canada, and Liverpool Business School’s Dr Sue Cronshaw (opens in a new tab) and Mike Drummond (opens in a new tab).

Professor Tony Wall (opens in a new tab), who is ranked #1 globally for “management development” and #12 for education for sustainable development on Google Scholar, said: "The award winners showed extraordinary innovation and actual or potential impact on education for sustainable development – we are proud this shows our own world class expertise in the area, and in a direction that students are increasingly demanding."

International research recently published by Professor Wall indicates that students around the world are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their knowledge of climate change and how to address it (see this open access research published in Climate Risk Management (opens in a new tab)).

Dr Adam Shore (opens in a new tab), Director of Liverpool Business School (opens in a new tab) said: "The event called for important actions around increasing the presence of sustainability in the business curriculum, bringing more local and indigenous knowledge into business knowledge, and evaluating the impact of our innovations. This is aligned with our own commitment as a signatory of the PRME and sustainable futures for our graduates."

Liverpool Business School (opens in a new tab) became a signatory of PRME in 2020 and released its latest report (accessible here (opens in a new tab)), reporting against the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In November 2022, it hosted the PRME UK and Ireland Chapter’s 10 year anniversary with a sustainable food tasting event in the Cotton Exchange in Liverpool (opens in a new tab).