Celebrating Success: Cristina Neesham

In August 2019, Dr Cristina Neesham’s research on “Individual-Systemic Responsibility: Global Corporations and Climate Change” was accepted for presentation in the Zicklin Center’s Normative Ethics Workshop 2019-2020 at the Wharton School (ranked 4th worldwide for its Global MBA by the Financial Times), University of Pennsylvania (ranked 17th by the ARWU). Held every year at Wharton (Philadelphia), the Normative Ethics Workshop is the most prestigious international research event in the field of normative ethics, sought after by members of the Society for Business Ethics (and many other business ethics networks) for its prominent mentoring role in the field. Selection is competitive, with only 18 contributions being accepted each year. Participation of the winning authors is fully funded by Wharton. The contributions and impact of the Zicklin Center research have been praised by many – including Columbia Law School, UCLA Law School, the World Bank Group, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the American Assembly, Rand Corporation, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Zicklin Center is also well known for its advocacy support work, which also involves acting as an amicus curiae (i.e. independent expert) in U. S. Supreme Court cases.

In October 2019, a grant application for a project on “An exploration and explanation of the business case for employee-volunteering programmes” was successful and will be supported with funding by the Dharohar non-profit organization and the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (India). The project leaders are Dr Kirti Mishra (IIMU) and Dr Cristina Neesham (NUBS). The project will explore and identify: (a) employees’ motivations for engaging in volunteering programs; (b) the benefits of engaging in volunteering programs for employees, organizations and society; and (c) the role of employee volunteering in developing the learning and other dynamic capabilities of organizations in order to enhance social and environmental sustainability.