Event: Transitioning to sustainable energy – what is the role of corporations?
An academic and corporate practitioner discussion open to staff and students.
About the event
Overview: The Postgraduate Sustainability Forum’s first panel discussion features both corporate practitioners and academic experts from UK and Australia. The focus of this event will be on the global transition to more sustainable energy resources and the role that corporations play in this transition. Join us and put your questions to the panel.
Title: Transitioning to sustainable energy: what is the role of corporations? An academic and corporate practitioner discussion
Date and time: Tuesday 8 November, 9.00 – 10.30am
Room: Partners Room, Level 8, NUBS
Register your attendance: Complete our sign-up form and we’ll contact you with joining details for the event.
About the Panel Experts
Katherine Priestley (Managing Director, Park Vale Capital) will be offering insights into sustainability transition issues experienced by industry practitioners.
Katherine is the founder and Managing Director of Park Vale Capital. Park Vale Capital is an investment company focused on biotechnology, clean technology and energy efficiency, intelligent systems and the industrial internet of things, and deploying machine learning through evolutionary technology in various applications. The company is particularly focused on solving the problem of rapid deployment of hard- and clean-tech innovation to revolutionise how they power their infrastructure and industries to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.
More recently, she has worked for a family investment office where she was responsible for advising on asset allocation, manager selection, and risk management with a strong focus on alternative assets. Katherine also has experience in managing companies, having served as Finance Director of a large UK industrial company.
Katherine currently serves as a Board director of the Pitblado Foundation, Trustee of the Krazna Krauz Foundation, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Royal Society, and has a strong working relationship with the Academy of Medical Sciences. Katherine received her B.A. Honours from Newcastle University, UK and Kokusai Kirisutokyo Daigaku (ICU), Tokyo, Japan; and her MBA from Columbia University, US. Katherine is a UK national.
Professor Christopher Wright (Professor of Organisational Studies, University of Sydney, Australia) will be sharing his research on corporate responses to climate change and insights on the future of sustainable energy solutions.
Christopher Wright is Professor of Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney Business School. His research explores organizational and societal responses to climate change, particularly focusing on how managers and business organisations interpret and respond to the climate crisis. His internationally recognised publications on this topic address issues of corporate environmentalism, corporate citizenship, organizational justification and compromise, and future imaginings.
Christopher is also a key researcher at the Sydney Environment Institute, where he heads up a group examining corporate climate transition. His recent books include Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations (CUP, 2015) and the recently published Organising Responses to Climate Change: The Politics of Mitigation, Adaptation and Suffering (CUP, 2022) written with Daniel Nyberg and Vanessa Bowden.
Professor Ariel Liebman (Director, Monash Energy Institute) will be illustrating how different disciplines can optimally integrate new and renewable technologies into their systems.
Ariel is Director of the Monash Energy Institute. and also leads the university’s Smart Energy Systems research program. Ariel leads Monash’s electricity grid related Digital Energy initiatives. He brings together researchers from across disciplines such as AI and Electrical Engineering. From 2020 onwards, Ariel has been Director of the Monash Energy Institute and the founding leader for the RACE for Networks Program in the Reliable Affordable Clean Energy (RACE) for 2030 CRC (RACE for 2030). Ariel is an energy specialist with more than 25 years of experience, including NEM price forecasting, investment planning, electricity network monopoly regulation, and energy portfolio risk management.
Ariel is co-architect of the Microgrid/Net Zero Initiative and lead researcher in the $3 mil ARENA-funded Smart Energy City. The Clayton campus infrastructure includes over 3MW of solar panels, 20 buildings, electric vehicle charging stations and a 1MWh Vanadium Redox Flow battery.
Ariel’s own research group’s focus is on the development and use of next-generation AI decision support tools for Integrated System Planning for national scale grids with near 100% renewables and storage as well as planning and operation of DER rich distribution grids.
Ariel previously led the Australia Indonesia Centre Energy Cluster. and recently led a project. in collaboration with Indonesian and European NGOs showing that a shift to renewables can cost Indonesia no more than their current coal-based plans while reaching 50% renewables by 2030.
About the Discussion Chairs
Dr Cristina Neesham (Director of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, Newcastle University Business School, UK)
Dr Cristina Neesham (BABuch PhdMelb) is a social philosopher and business ethicist who applies corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability principles to business strategy and business models. She is Director of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, UK and Associate Professor of Business Ethics and CSR. She is also Division Chair-Elect for the Social Issues in Management (Academy of Management). Cristina’s research interests focus on the responsibilities of global corporations in environmental management. In particular, she investigates interdependencies between individual and group behaviours, social norms and institutional-regulatory regimes and their role in creating (as well as alleviating) climate change as a global systemic problem. She uses these findings to inform and design ethical capability building projects for industry, government and professional practice.
Prof Amrik Sohal (Professor of Management, Monash Business School, Austrailia)
Dr Amrik S. Sohal is a Professor in the Department of Management, Monash Business School, Monash University. Professor Sohal joined Monash University in 1991, having previously held academic positions at the University of Melbourne and the University of Bradford (UK). At Monash University, he has held a number of positions at the faculty level including Associate Dean (Research), Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) and Associate Dean (India Development). He holds a PhD in Operations Management from the University of Bradford Management Centre in the UK, as well as a BEng (Hons) and an MBA, also from the University of Bradford.
His current research focuses on process improvement and innovation, supply chains, circular economy and sustainable procurement. He was a Chief Investigator on a recently completed project funded by the Australian Research Council entitled: “Towards the health care system of the future: The role of institutional entrepreneurship in service redesign and innovation”. Professor Sohal has authored or co-authored over 250 papers published in refereed journals, as well as three books and a number of chapters contributed to books.
In 2001, Professor Sohal received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision. In 2004 he received an award for research excellence from the International Association for Management of Technology and in 2009 the publication’s award from the same organisation. In 2010, Professor Sohal received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, and in 2013, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Innovation and External Engagement. He was a Board member of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) for over 10 years and ANZAM President in 2009. In 2011, Professor Sohal was awarded Life Fellow of ANZAM.