June 8, 2016, by ICCSR

Sustainability students meet for joint workshop in London

At the back end of May 2016 we staged a joint research workshop for MSc Sustainability and CSR students from Nottingham University Business School and Royal Holloway.

This event was held at Senate House in central London on 25 May, attracting a total of 20 students from both institutions.

Matthew Johns, a sustainability consultant from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), kicked off this event with an interactive presentation, followed by student co-teaching sessions which included dissertation presentations and critiquing of their work in small groups.

Matthew, an ICCSR alumnus, gave an excellent presentation in which he provided an overview of his position at PWC and explained how his master’s dissertation had helped prepare him for the work he now does. He shared his thoughts on the critical importance of sustainability in everyday business, noting how research continues well past university, and put forward some handy examples of how to conduct ‘real-world’ research for a client. The students developed solutions for the problems at hand in small groups and discussed them with Matthew in interactive sessions.

After a coffee, tea and pastries break, used for inter-university networking, the MSc students – who came armed with a one-page overview of their dissertation plans – presented their work for critique by their peers. The three academic staff present were on hand if needed, though for the most part the students got on with it themselves very well and generated some animated discussions in the process. The focus and energy of the students looking into their research subjects was clearly evident.

The workshop concluded with a brief wrap-up session, which provided an opportunity to reflect on common areas of concern, and then discussions were transferred to a local pub.

The workshop was co-organized by the ICCSR’s Stefan Gold, Director of MSc Sustainability, and by Stephanos Anastasiadis, Deputy Director of MSc Sustainability at Royal Holloway’s Centre for Research into Sustainability (CRIS). Also in attendance was the ICCSR’s Associate Professor in Sustainability, Stelvia Matos.

 

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