Following a busy first year, the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business is excited to present its first annual report and centre brochure.
Since its inception and now one year on, the Centre has seen ongoing success, from setting their research agenda to welcoming Centre Associates and an Advisory Board. It has also applied its efforts to developing a host of thought-provoking and challenging activities, as well as a programme of work which will explore, develop and promote responsible business research.
The list of businesses looking to work in partnership with the Centre is ever-growing and has seen its academics join companies such as Banking Standards Board, CBI, Business in the Community and Ricoh for consultations, events, panels or debates. To further their collaborative work, the Centre will be looking to work with local, national and international businesses and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) with a view to helping businesses become more responsible through meaningful research translated into practical, solution-based models of best practice.
The Centre’s first year also saw the launch of their ReBA grant scheme which offered a research pot of £25,000. The research award scheme invited early- to mid-career academics to propose innovate research proposals that would shape the future of responsible business.
The innovative research being done within the Centre has brought about plenty of positive change. By aligning its research with the UN Sustainable Goals, introducing new responsible business modules into MBA courses, and winning funding to develop an alternative reality game which will enhance the learning experiences of students, the Centre is consistently contributing and developing to the responsible business agenda.
Looking to the future, emerging projects – such as Environmental Pollution Solutions, creating a responsible business tracker and making academic research more accessible – will be at the forefront of the Centre’s work. Further afield, the Birmingham Business School as a whole will be taking into account the Centre’s important work by positioning responsible business at the core of all of its activities to ensure that responsible business is at the heart of every decision, every day.