Juliane leads the sustainability initiative at Oxford Saïd, which entails supporting research, ensuring sustainability is embedded in our programmes, and collaborating to show the impact of business schools.
Oxford Saïd is leading the way with sustainability research
With 2023 now confirmed as the hottest year on record, the scale of the climate emergency driven by human-caused climate change is evident. Global records set last year are bringing the world closer to breaching key international climate targets, with extreme weather affecting all parts of the world.
At Saïd Business School, we have long believed that business and business education have a leading role to play in delivering a sustainable economic future. The School’s work places great emphasis on the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to seeking solutions, both internally and externally. Whilst a number of our academics have sustainability as their core research focus, it is a crucial consideration in the work undertaken across our faculty.
Academics leading sustainability research at the School include Juliane Reinecke, Abrar Chaudhury, and Amir Amel-Zadeh.
Abrar’s research focuses on global environmental change. He is currently investigating the ways in which dedicated climate funding and emerging technologies shape implementation and diffusion of climate action in emerging economies. Abrar earned a doctorate in Environmental Change and Management and an MBA and an MSc in Environmental Management, and is affiliated with Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.
Amir is currently working in partnership with Investcorp to investigate consumers’ attitudes and behaviour towards climate-friendly vs climate-damaging products and create an index of consumer sentiment towards climate change. The project is part of a broader initiative exploring how businesses can modify their practises to progress towards sustainability targets, whilst still meeting business needs.
Oxford Saïd is deeply committed to finding solutions to world-scale challenges including climate change and is frequently refreshing and innovating in its approach to do so. During COP28, the School held the finals of its global challenge in partnership with Burjeel Holdings. The challenge encouraged students and teachers to come up with innovative solutions to combat climate change. The competition empowered students to drive meaningful solutions to accelerate climate action, and recognised educators that were effectively raising awareness of climate change and inspiring students to think creatively about tackling the issue.
We’re hugely grateful to the partners that support our academics’ important research on sustainability. By working with business, we can ensure that outputs are industry-relevant and practically applicable, and by embedding sustainability teaching within our programmes, provide students entering the workplace with the tools needed to apply a systems-thinking approach that can be used to develop appropriate, actionable interventions.