Management Education for Sustainability
The Chair in Management Education for Sustainability aims to develop
new knowledge and ideas about the state of, strategies for and visions
about management education for sustainability and apply and share the
insights within the educational and the business sector. It will
contribute to the process of a sustainable transformation by enabling
the education of a new generation of leaders for businesses that are
willing to lead this process.
The Sustainable Development Goals
will serve as a guiding framework in this. Exploring new approaches
towards sustainability, experimenting with non-traditional ideas about
education and business, and undertaking education and research
initiatives in a spirit of engaged scholarship that emphasizes both a
practical orientation and societal value will be its trade. Its
signature will be more of a catalyst than a critic, though with an
activist touch. Its end goal is to make sustainability thrive.
The Chair aspires to serve as a thought leader that is a force for change on the interface of sustainability, education, and business. Its impact is reflected in both furthering the agenda of management education for sustainability worldwide and nurturing a new generation of sustainability leaders. This will manifest itself through developing and providing access to curriculum content and leadership programs, exploring and sharing ideas on novel didactics and pedagogies, and mapping and influencing the institutional infrastructure of management education for sustainability.
What?
Research
The Chair initiates, conducts, and supervises both practice-oriented and academic research projects. These include quantitive survey research to map the state of management education for sustainability, sustainability attitudes and knowledge of young professionals, qualitative case research in order to identify and analyze best practices, and experimental studies to test innovative pedagogies. The Chair is also involved in the SDG Barometer and supervises PhD research into the implementation of the SDGs within organizations.
Co-creation
The Chair is a lead partner in the SDG competencies project in the Netherlands. It also is a lead partner in the SDG Barometer project and, together with several French and Dutch universities and business schools, coordinates the introduction of the SDG Barometer in France and the Netherlands.
In addition, the chair initiates and realizes publications on the topic of management education for sustainability in cooperation with scholars and educators worldwide, including special issues in academic journals.
Development
The Chair will engage in teaching activities and contribute to leadership development, both relating to young management students and participants in executive education programs. These initiatives will encompass curricular as well as extracurricular contents.
In addition, the Chair will initiate the development of experimental and innovative educational programs as well as shareable blueprints for such programs to be used by other institutions and organizations. Activities will include guest lectures at business schools and companies, leadership courses for young professionals and business leaders, and ‘educating the educator’ in order to build capacity with management educators.
Inaugural lecture
On December 15, 2020, Prof. Dr. Lars Moratis and Prof. Dr. Ir. Frans Melissen held their inaugural lecture on the chair 'Management Education for Sustainability'. Because of corona, this was an online event where we launched the world's first inaugural video. In this video, the chair holders outlined their views on sustainable business and responsible management education in particular. Prior to the launch of the video, the official inaugural lecture took place.
About Dr. Lars Moratis
Dr. Lars Moratis is an expert in the field of sustainable business with broad experience within both academia and business. Besides being co-Chair in Management Education for Sustainability, a position he shares with Dr.ir. Frans Melissen, he is a professor of sustainable business and management education for sustainability at Breda University of Applied Sciences. He has taught in academic universities and universities of professional education in Belgium and the Netherlands and has explored new ways of learning in his role as a management educator. Being an advocate of applied research and academic entrepreneurship, he is a founder of the then SDG Ambassadors program at Antwerp Management School and, together with Dr.ir. Frans Melissen, creator of the concept of ‘sustainability intelligence’. Next to being the author of books on management education, sustainable business models and sustainability management, his publications include academic and practitioner-oriented articles on these topics as well as on the Sustainable Development Goals, the credibility of corporate sustainability claims and the psychology and philosophy of sustainability. In addition, he regularly publishes in national and regional newspapers.
About Dr. ir Frans Melissen
Dr. ir. Frans Melissen is an expert in the field of sustainable experience design with broad experience in academia in various roles, including curriculum development and management. Besides being co-Chair in Management Education for Sustainability, a position he shares with Dr. Lars Moratis, he is a professor of sustainable experience design and management education for sustainability at Breda University of Applied Sciences. He has taught and developed courses in relation to sustainability at academic universities and universities of applied sciences. He is the initiator and coordinator of the highly successful minor Sustainability, Social Responsibility and Professional Identity – open to students from all academies of BUas and other universities. Together with Dr. Lars Moratis, he is the co-inventor of the concept of ‘sustainability intelligence’. He is the author of a number of sustainability-related academic and practitioner-oriented papers, as well a number of (text)books, including Sustainable Customer Experience Design together with Bert Smit and published by Routledge. He also regularly publishes opinion pieces in national newspapers and delivers (keynote) speeches at academic and practitioner-oriented conferences and dedicated meetings.
