Aidan McQuade, Director of Anti-Slavery International, was guest speaker at the Department of Management on March 4. Aidan graduated in Civil Engineering from Queens' University in 1988 and spent most of the subsequent 13 years in the humanitarian sector in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Angola. Following an MBA at Strathclyde Business School in 2002, Aidan undertook doctoral research on the subject of corporate social responsibility, combining insights from institutional, agency and psychological theory to better understand the relationship between organisations and society. Now director of Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest human rights organisation, Aidan discussed both his research and the work of his organisation. Find out more at http://www.antislavery.org/english/default.aspx
Professor Dennis Nickson from the Department of Human Resource Management recently contributed to the Sunday Herald's Argument of the Week. Professor Nickson was asked to provide a 'no' response to the question of 'Is it ok to swear at work?' Professor Nickson's argument can be found here.
As a follow-up to the review of alternatives for local government finance that was carried out last year by Glasgow City Council, Professor Roger Sandilands (Economics) helped prepare a 24-minute documentary film, entitled "Glasgow's Stolen Birthright." Here the case is made for a replacement of the Council Tax system with that of Land Value Taxation (LVT). The film can be viewed on the website of the International Union for Land Value Taxation at http://www.theiu.org/films/glasgows-stolen-birthright.html.
Professor Robert Chia was invited by Copenhagen Business School to give a seminar paper in a research workshop entitled 'Thinking Organization as Process' on January 29. Professor Chia spoke on "An Oriental Perspective on Process, Emergence and Self-Transformation" alongside other speakers including Tor Hernes of Copenhagen Business School, Robin Holt of Liverpool Business School and Tore Bakken, Norwegian School of Management, Oslo.
Professor Stan Paliwoda of the Department of Marketing presented a keynote address to the 4th International Research Conference on Management and Finance in Sri Lanka on December 11. The conference co-ordinator was Strathclyde alumna, Dr Fazeela Jameel Ahsan, now of the Faculty of Management & Finance, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dr Ahsen graduated in 1999 with her PhD from the Department of Marketing.
The conference was opened by native drummers in costume and a welcome address was given by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama, after which there was the ritual lighting of Prof Stan Paliwodathe oil lamp which precedes almost every ceremony, signifying the light of wisdom overcoming the darkness of ignorance.
A memorial service will be held at 2pm on April 12 at the Barony, University of Strathclyde, Cathedral Street, Glasgow, for Emeritus Professor in the Department of Marketing, Michael Thomas. A memorial website has also been set up at www.michael-thomasobe.memory-of.com and a special commemorative issue of the journal which he founded and was associated with for 21 years - Marketing Intelligence and Planning - is to be produced. Guest editors include: Professor Stan Paliwoda (Strathclyde), Keith Crosier (formerly of Strathclyde's Department of Marketing) and Maciej Rydel (University of Gdansk, Poland). Comments and suggestions for the composition of this special commemorative issue would be welcome. Please contact: stan.paliwoda@strath.ac.uk
Mik Wisniewski, Management Science, has been commissioned by Palgrave Macmillan to write a new textbook. The text, provisionally titled "Using Mathematics in Economic Analysis", is scheduled for publication in 2012 and will be a key text in Palgrave's Economics catalogue.
Strathclyde's Hellenic Alumni Association (www.strathclyde-alumni.gr) is hosting its annual summer event on June 11 at Ktima Filira in Athens which, in addition to the usual reception and dinner, will also honour a number of Strathclyde alumni who have attained remarkable professional achievement. Strathclyde graduates can be nominated by emailing info@strathclyde-alumni.gr
Dr Sara Davies (EPRC) and Dr Jillian MacBryde (Management Science) are hosting an event in Stornoway as part of the ESRC Festival of Science on March 19. The event will take the form of a schools debate on the topic of innovation in rural areas. The event is primarily aimed at young adults but may also be of interest to the wider general public. The debate is linked to the ESRC funded research project "Innovation in Peripheral Areas" being undertaken by Strathclyde Business School.