Once a month during the winter semester we will host a famous or upcoming scholar on ZOOM to discuss their research.

The 2020-2021 sustainability brownbag series is organized by Dr. Miron Avidan.

We have a very exciting lineup this semester:

Friday, January 22^nd, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Dror Etzion (McGill)

https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/dror-etzion

Thursday, Feb 4^th, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Sara Soderstrom (Michigan)

https://lsa.umich.edu/orgstudies/people/faculty/capasb.html

Friday, February 26^th, 2021, 16:00 – Ms. Lucrezia Nava (ESADE)

https://www.lucrezianava.com/

Wednesday, March 17^th, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Raymond Paquin (Concordia)

https://www.concordia.ca/jmsb/faculty/raymond-paquin.html

Friday, April 23^rd, 2021, 16:00 – Prof Wren Montgomery (Ivey)

https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/faculty/directory/a-wren-montgomery/

Thursday, May 19^th, 2021, 16:00 – Prof. Sebastian Utz (HSG)

https://iorcf.unisg.ch/en/institut/team/mitarbeiterinnen/sebastian-utz

Master’s thesis opportunity: the role of carbon emission reduction targets in shaping environmental sustainability

A majority of Multi-National enterprises (MNEs) have been reporting their social and environmental performance for well over a decade, yet little is known about whether and how these disclosures shape their progress on critical issues such as carbon emissions, water conservation and biodiversity. At the Chair for Sustainability Management (IWOe), we are currently undertaking a project in which we track the sustainability disclosures of companies over four different time points (2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018) to observe how the definition of targets and goals has evolved over time and how target-setting has shaped companies’ sustainability performance.

We are looking for a master’s student with a keen interest in sustainability to help us on the project, specifically to help us code the reports. The student will, in turn, have the opportunity to use the coded content for their Master’s Thesis topic. We are looking for someone with a strong work ethic and an interest in this topic. The student will work closely with Dr. Miron Avidan, a post-doc at the IWOe.

If you have interest please contact Dr. Miron Avidan

Julia joined IWÖ-HSG in November 2020 after a dual degree programme in International Public Management at SciencesPo, Paris, and International Affairs and Governance at the University of St.Gallen, which she completed with an M.A. thesis on firms’ motivation to join the RE100 initiative. Her PhD thesis will investigate the interplay of business and public policy in bringing about a low-carbon economy. Julia is an alumna of the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft as well as a fellow of e-fellows.net.

Full replays of the main conference programme on September 11, as well as the Dinner Talk on September 10 and the joint #REMforum #MaCSHSG #GreenBagSeries, featuring our latest research insights and best practices from an international set of industry practitioners, are available on our YouTube channel and accessible here.

Gift joined in September 2020 as a new Ph.D. student and Research Assistant under the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS). Gift comes from Zimbabwe, Southern Africa where he previously studied and worked in the mining sector. He holds a BSc and Master’s degrees in Mining Engineering and has worked as a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and a part-time consultant for Pact Zimbabwe, an NGO with projects around natural resources governance. From these interactions, Gift developed a passion for fostering sustainability in the mining industry. Mining exploits non-renewable resources and while mining contributes economically, if natural resources are not preserved, the industry might not benefit future generations. On the same note, if mining operations are not properly regulated in terms of resource efficiency, environmental damage and safety, they have the potential to destroy the land for future generations. Against this background, Gift is pursuing doctoral research aimed at developing a sustainable mineral exploitation path for resource-rich, developing countries. Gift draws from his engineering background, a systems thinking approach and applies it to the sustainability discourse.

The inaugural cohort of the innovative Managing Climate Solutions certificate programme for Master’s students at the University of St. Gallen gathered online for a full-week seminar in the first week of November 2020. The interactive programme included inputs from academics and practitioners, a climate activist panel, group projects, as well as a virtual excursion, during which students discovered an abundance of climate solutions at their doorstep.
The deadline for applying to the 2^nd edition of the programme is June 30, 2021: www.macs.unisg.ch

In August 2020 Jost Hamschmidt became Project Leader Curriculum Development at the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWOe). As a passionate supporter of co-creation and peer-to-peer learning within academic ecosystems he is dedicated to strengthen curriculum innovations towards developing entrepreneurial personalities whose actions are informed by social responsibility and sustainability.

Jost has spent more than 15 years in positions dealing with curriculum innovation and sustainability. During this time he co-developed international academic projects such as the oikos Global Case Writing Competition, the ETH PhD Academy on Sustainability and Technology and the CEMS Model UNFCCC, a simulation of the UN climate change negotiations.

He was a founding member of the Impact Hub Zurich Association and initiated the Teaching Innovations Lab at ETH Zurich’s Department of Management, Technology and Economics in 2016. Being a father of three kids he has also served on the board of the first Swiss Outdoor School, based in St. Gallen. He holds a Ph.D. from University of St. Gallen and was a visiting research fellow at UC Berkeley (2002/03) and Harvard Business School (2007/08).

Miron joined IWÖ as a post-doctoral research fellow through the Basic Research Fund (GFF) in July 2020. He recently obtained his Ph.D. at the strategy department of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University (Montreal), under the supervision of Professor Dror Etzion. In his thesis, Miron examines the interface between water and energy consumption using a ten-year panel data across hundreds of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). More specifically, he looks for configurations of organizational attention that characterize firms who notice that water and energy management are inextricably related. His thesis also pinpoints the correlation between this type of “nexus acknowledgment” and subsequent environmental performance. Miron is interested in contexts such as fracking, divestment, and corporate water accounting, and the development and institutionalization of sustainability metrics. His previous work was published in outlets such as the Journal of Cleaner Production and Regulation and Governance. Miron obtained a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in statistics from Tel-Aviv University and has professional experience as a corporate responsibility consultant and analyst.