Donors empowering INSEAD’s research in sustainability are changing business and society in more ways than one. To start, they are upholding the highest scholarly standards by supporting INSEAD faculty, endorsing objective, critical thinking, and creating value for the greater good.
INSEAD’s research in sustainability is not new; indeed, it has a four-decade history, highlighted by seminal works. However, recent donor support has transformed the scope and scale of our sustainability research and its dissemination. The Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society marked a watershed, seed-funding projects ranging from sustainable operations to health and nutrition and linking our widening contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Adding to this momentum, several donor funds strengthened research in specific areas, from sustainable finance to women’s empowerment. The launch of the INSEAD Sustainable Business Initiative (SBI), supported by the Mark Pathy MBA’98D Research Fund, intensified interdisciplinary studies, conducted with impartiality and integrity on what should be done by businesses to promote sustainability.
Donor support in the last decade has led to a surge in academic and practitioner-oriented articles and case studies that have received prestigious awards. The immediate impact has been on our programmes and curricula. The MBA programme has sustainability embedded into all its core courses, complemented by 19 electives. In the PhD programme, dissertations on sustainability topics are on the rise. In Executive Education, three new Open Enrolment Programmes are addressing high demand for knowledge in the field. Cases enabled by donor funds are being taught in these programmes, inspiring tomorrow’s leaders and entrepreneurs.
A recent example of how INSEAD research directly contributes to a cleaner world is a field experiment on Tilos island in Greece. INSEAD’s professors, along with a faculty member from the University of Minnesota, are collaborating with Polygreen, a circular economy solutions company, to examine the community education model behind the island’s unique zero-waste achievement. What are the motivational drivers behind residents’ behaviour? What could be replicated to scale the Tilos model elsewhere? The team’s ongoing work was presented to Greece’s Prime Minister, who authorised the expansion of the model to an additional 15 Greek islands.
INSEAD’s highly ranked research is attracting postdoctoral fellows, predoctoral researchers, PhD students, and practitioners to work alongside our world-class faculty. This growing nexus of tomorrow’s thinkers, thriving at INSEAD, will continue to harness the power of research for a sustainable future for all.
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Professor Lily Fang |
