Also in the news
SBS professor appointed RRBM Fellow
The Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM) Working Board has voted unanimously to recommend Peter McKiernan, Professor of Management at Strathclyde Business School, to become a member of the RRBM Fellows group.
Through appointing RRBM Fellows, RRBM aims to recognise those who have made an exceptional contribution to RRBM’s purpose, reach, and impact. The recommendation states: "By honoring you as a Fellow, we also hope to inspire current and upcoming generations of RRBM contributors to follow in your footsteps, making their own significant contributions to our vision of rigorous business and management research that positively impacts society."
Responsible Research for Business and Management (RRBM) is dedicated to inspiring, encouraging, and supporting credible and useful research in the business and management disciplines. It is a virtual organisation initially developed by a group of 24 leading scholars in five disciplines at 23 university-based business schools in 10 countries and now joined by a much larger community.
Fellows are an honorary group of distinguished individuals whose passion for the purpose and vision of RRBM inspires them to continue to engage, promote and advocate for RRBM in the future.
Tourism and Hospitality Excellence body appoints professor as chair
Professor Tom Baum (WEO) has been appointed as Chair of the Accreditation Panel for THE-ICE. The International Centre of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education (THE-ICE) was established in 2004 by the Australian Federal Government to develop benchmarks and promote excellence in tourism, hospitality and events (TH&E). Since becoming a not-for-profit organisation in 2008, THE-ICE has developed into a global organisation for accreditation, benchmarking, and quality enhancement in tourism, hospitality, events and culinary arts (TH&E) education, with a network of 32 members in 17 countries across 3 continents. Accreditation and quality assurance are integral to the operations of THE-ICE and the Accreditation Panel includes academic experts from Asia, Australia, Europe and the US.
Southeast Asia research activity
Professor Tom Baum (WEO) was an invited Keynote Speaker at the 6th International Conference on Tourism in Vietnam hosted by the National Economics University in Hanoi, Vietnam. Tom’s talk addressed “Lesson-drawing as a guide to planning for the future of work and employment in tourism in Southeast Asia”.
During a recent visit to Thailand, Professor Tom Baum (WEO) visited SBS exchange and articulation partners, Chiang Mai University and Mahidol University International College (MUIC), meeting staff and students in both institutions. Tom also worked with colleagues from MUIC in preparing a KE collaborative bid to the International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF) in order to develop research capacity in both institutions in the area of tourism and hospitality employment.
'Every Tree Tells a Story' wins Strathlabs launch prize
The Strathclyde Business School team from 'Every Tree Tells a Story' were delighted to be awarded a first prize for their 'Living Lab' work as part of the recent StrathLab launch. Professor Sarah Dodd, Dr Juliette Wilson, and Dr James Bonner plan to make good use of the new StrathLab facilities, especially mobile technology allowing real-life data and engagement recording.
StrathLab is an ecosystem for the entire community at the University of Strathclyde and also for Strathclyde's partners in the wider community.
The ‘Living Labs’ use inclusive co-design to identify and prioritise what matters to the people of Glasgow and beyond, helping to co-create solutions that solve real-world problems, and generate evidence of impact in inclusive and socially progressive ways.
Every Tree Tells a Story (ETTAS) is a collective organic project, founded in Glasgow in 2021, and conceived as an innovative response to the need to more deeply explore the connections between place, nature, community, (inclusive) society, and ecojustice.
ETTAS supports postcard centred story telling in partnership with school, communities, artists, activists, walkers, students and policy makers and teh team invites citizens of all ages to simply share their stories of trees on specially designed postcards, through an informal vox pop approach, in the city’s squares, pubs, parks and trails.
The SBS team has also run more structured pop-up workshop events, collaborating with primary schools, libraries, cultural centres, universities and other civic institutions. Some stories are shared in words, some in drawings, and some in both forms. ETTAS generates sustainability value for participants through voicing and sharing their connections with nature. ETTAS’ citizen social science data also captures the role, value, and impact of trees in citizens’ lives, facilitating democratic and grounded evidence-based policy mapping for urban forestry.
The collective is led by Strathclyde University and Glasgow City Council, and other friends involved in ETTAS include Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow University, and actor-activist Tam Dean Burns.
New book for WEO academic
Professor Barbara Simpson’s new book, ‘Diffracting collaborative leadership: a Pragmatist project’ was published by Oxford University Press on November 18.
The book has been endorsed by Professor Donna Ladkin, Professor of Inclusive Leadership, University of Birmingham:
“Influenced by a range of thinkers including John Dewey, Virginia Woolf, and Donna Haraway, Simpson’s reconstruction of leadership as a ‘collaborative process of in-flow-ence’ is unique in a field which remains fixed on individual heroism as the touchstone of effective leading. Not only is the book stretching conceptually, its form fosters a holographic experience of sense making, which like the theory of leadership it offers, emerges through uncertainty, asking ‘what if’, and play. Thank you, Professor Simpson for this dis-orienting and re-orienting take on leadership.”
Ann Cunliffe, Professor of Organisation Studies, Fundação Getulio Vargas-EAESP, Brazil, has also endorsed the book, saying:
“Barbara Simpson challenges the fundamental assumption that leadership is something that individual leaders do, while followers follow. Drawing on Pragmatist and process philosophy, music, and various strands of literature, she weaves a compelling argument that leading is movement, emerging in the ebbs and flows, the chords and discords, and the unexpectedness of life. Beautifully written around five movements, we are encouraged to rethink traditional approaches to leadership and engage with the much-needed idea of leading as future-making together.”
SBS Induction Challenge winners announced
As part of Welcome Week for students, all new Strathclyde Business School (SBS) undergraduate and postgraduate students on campus in Glasgow and on two BBA programmes which launched at our Bahrain centre this year were invited to participate in the “SBS and Global Practitioner Challenge.”
During these induction sessions - a new addition to Strathclyde's welcome and development week - students heard from an SBS academic about the work of SBS and how the university can help students gain the skills and knowledge for a future career. They also heard from a business school Global Practitioner about how they are currently applying their learning to the challenges facing business today. The students were then asked to take a photo inspired by the session and submit along with text explaining how the photo related to what they had heard.
There were a number of superb entries, and the Global Practitioners involved - Allan Gowans, Leslie Rance and Kieran Phelan - selected the winners on the creativity of the photo and how the description connected to the session.
Click the thumbnails below for the full-size image.
Winner – Strathclyde  | Diana Panova, BA Hons, International Business In the lecture we were told that it is very important that we develop as diverse people and gain all sorts of knowledge and experience possible and it does not always come from books but from people. So what I picked up from the class was that we don’t always stay the same because we gain more experience and our perspective changes constantly. The photo shows the wall with stickers written by different people with different backgrounds and this wall depicts every one of us being changed. |
Winner – Bahrain  | Ali Naser, BBA Hons Business Administration The attached photo is a picture of a man-made beach of the 'Bahrain Bay' project. In our session, we talked a lot about finding our 'happy place' where we could think. I then left the university and headed straight for the nearest beach and I thought: I thought a lot about ethics, sustainability and business. The beach has created thousands of jobs; the company who funded it has moved billions of dollars through the local economy. I was standing on land worth thousands per metre. Adversely, this rapid and unnatural expansion has severely damaged underground water reservoirs and crippled local sea life which transformed Bahrain from the elusive green paradise to a barren land. I cannot know whether this business or the many businesses before them have considered such matters or worked to minimise the negative impacts of their expansion, but I do know that when it is my turn to build a beach, I will strive to do it more ethically. |
Runners up  | Stella Chikwunda, BA Hons Business In this session I was introduced to Strathclyde as "a place of useful learning". I learned that the business school prepares its graduates to thrive in real world contexts. An example given is the CEO of Greggs, one of the largest food chains of our country as of 2024, who is a Strathclyde Business School graduate. In the lecture we were also introduced to the sustainable development goals. The picture details a Too Good to Go bag sold by Greggs. Through research I discovered that Greggs partners with Too Good To Go, the leading marketplace for selling surplus food. In 2023 Greggs were able to sell 1,000,000 Too Good To Go bags. This links back to the 2nd and 17th aims of the sustainable development goals: zero hunger and partnership for the goals. I believe that this proves that the business school graduates have gone out and made a remarkable impact in our society. |
 | Natkitha Tritaratanapon, MSc Data Analytics Bridging Heritage and Innovation: This image of the Graham Hills Building highlights the contrast between Strathclyde's historical heritage and its forward-looking vision, symbolized by the satellite mural. It reflects Strathclyde Business School's focus on "useful learning," where the emphasis is on acquiring and applying knowledge to address modern challenges. The satellite represents both progress and utility, aligning with the SBS mission of blending academic tradition with innovative, practical solutions to make a positive difference to the lives of students and the world. |
 | Sophie Neville, BA Hons Business During part of the induction I was given an inspiring talk from Kieran Phelan, who gave a realistic overview on his long but successful journey in the business world through many different work environments. He discussed the importance of taking opportunities, working hard and - no matter what you’re doing - to trust the process. I took a picture of the Glasgow subway route to link the idea that no matter how many stops you make along the way, as long as you got on that train, you should be proud of your destination. |
Help to Grow: Management - January programme
Our Help to Grow: Management programme has its latest cohort starting in January. Designed with growth businesses in mind, those who sign up will benefit from the power of peer learning, delivered in person on campus at Strathclyde Business School over 12 weeks. Described as a “mini MBA”, the programme is a low cost, effective leadership development programme for senior leaders of SMEs.
This 12-week course is 90% funded by the UK Government and open to leaders and senior management from businesses that have been operating for over a year with between 5-249 employees. All industries are welcome, and we encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to apply. Previous cohorts have been made up of varying industries from Energy, Construction and Health & Life Sciences, to Digital & Enabling Tech, Advanced Manufacturing, Social Innovation, and Creative industries (to name but a few!).
We’ve seen over 260 companies graduate from the programme at Strathclyde and recent participant Brian Costello CEO of HeadStrong wrote a blog for us to share his thoughts on the programme and the connections he has made: LINK
Strathclyde graduate sponsors class assignment
A company with a Strathclyde link has sponsored the class assignment for Thomas McAlinden’s class, Marketing Management.
The newly launched beauty and personal care brand called Dussl is owned by a Strathclyde alumnus Fraser Wilson. Students in the Marketing Management class will be creating a marketing strategy and plan for Dussl to compete within the highly competitive UK beauty and personal care market.
Exhibition: My Cultural Inclusion Story
“My Cultural Inclusion Story” is an exhibition curated by Research Assistant Fiona Dawson and Dr Andrea Tonner as part of their project on inclusion with adults with learning disabilities. The exhibit can be found in the Learning and Teaching building, on level 4. The exhibit features collages and poems from the project and will be on display until Friday.
Department of Marketing Case Club
Dr Michael Harker and colleagues in the Department of Marketing have been writing teaching case studies to support their own classes, but also to share with peers locally and elsewhere. Nine have been produced so far, each covering four of the UNSDGs. Many of these have a primary focus on Marketing decisions, but a number would also be suitable for management, entrepreneurship, tourism and other disciplines. They are all available upon request.
Colleagues are welcome to join the Case Club from across the faculty.
SME Annual Reunion event with Kyle Steyn
SEED held its first SME alumni event of the new academic year in September, featuring the Captain of the Glasgow Warriors Kyle Steyn delivering a fascinating leadership story from both a personal and professional perspective.
Kyle shared his belief in values-based leadership, his unwavering commitment to integrity, loyalty and hard work instilled in him by his parents. The group learned of his strong sense of purpose, approach to leadership centres on fostering trust, setting clear values, and leading by example - all principles and values he carries into both his rugby career and his leadership philosophy. This event was well received by our SME leaders who posed some challenging questions.
Neurodiversity in Business event -24 October
SEED hosted a Neurodiversity in Business event for SMEs on October 24. The group was joined by Declan Hogan from the Centre for Autism Research and Education @ Strathclyde (CARE@S) - working towards Neuro-Inclusion.
Declan delivered an insightful masterclass on:
Nifty- Neuro-Inclusion Flourishing Through You! (NIFTY)
- Why is Neuro-Inclusion necessary
- What are the Barriers
- What are two or more things we could do tomorrow to be "NIFTY"
He also shared Neuro-Inclusive practices and the innovation that comes from it, giving examples of systems in the workplace and answered many questions from our SMEs and their staff.
Professor John Gennard Prize Winners and Awards Event
The Department of Work, Employment and Organisation organised their annual Professor John Gennard Prize Giving event which celebrates the exceptional work of postgraduate students, including those who received top marks in their MSc dissertations and reflective research reports.
The Department was delighted to host Greggs CEO and SBS alumna, Roisin Currie, who spoke about her journey from HR to CEO.
Congratulations to the prize winners:
1st prize - Lucie Jeanne Marie Adam, MSc International Human Resource, 1st prize - Professor John Gennard Award
2nd prize - Qawiyah Oladunni Haroon Tejumola, MSc International Human Resource Management, 2nd prize - Professor John Gennard Award
3rd prize - Alexandra Hislop, MSc International Human Resource Management, 3rd prize - Professor John Gennard Award
REBI update
Founding director of REBI (Responsible Business Institute), Professor Dimitris Andriosopoulos, was quoted in a BBC article about DNA testing firm “23andMe” on November 3.
Dimitris told the BBC that 23andMe had two problems – it didn’t have a continuing business model and plans to use an anonymised version of the gathered DNA database for drug research took too long to become profitable.
As part of ReBI activity, Dimitris has also been successful on two funding bids:
- Scotland Beyond Net Zero – this project, which involves the University of Dundee, has been given £9.5k seed funding for a year-long project on sustainable bonds and credit involving Joe Byrne from the Department of Economics. on sustainable bonds and credit. Strathclyde has been allocated £4.5K
- A research grant of £96.6K has been awarded for the project “Louisville/Jefferson County Metro: Priority Climate Action Plan development for the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program.” The funds have come from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program/US EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency). This project will be led by Richard Bellingham of the Institute For Future Cities, with co-investigators Dimitris Andriosopoulos, Department of Accounting and Finance and ReBI; Sheng Li, Department of Accounting and Finance; Paul Tuohy (MAE); and Neil Ferguson (CEE).