Wondering what's new? You'll find a list of the most recent additions to the PRME Library Collection here.
February 27, 2020
Education for sustainable development through business simulation games: An exploratory study of sustainability gamification and its effects on students' learning outcomes (2019) by Lucia Gattia, Markus Ulrich & Peter Seele (Management)
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is gaining increased attention in tertiary education. According to the literature, ESD affects not only the content of education, but also its process and outcomes. This requires a new learning culture based on participative processes and new teaching techniques. Among the different methods and techniques as typologized by Figueirò and Raufflet (2015), action and experiential learning methods offer a promising approach for teaching sustainability. However, no previous studies have empirically addressed the effects of this approach on sustainability learning outcomes. For this reason, with the objective of understanding the potentials and limitations of such methodology, this paper presents an exploratory study of a teaching experience based on the action and experiential learning approach, and in particular on the simulation game technique.
SDG Topics: Quality Education
Hubbub Foundation (Multidisciplinary Resources)
Hubbub is a London-based environmental charity that engages with corporates and foundations to sponsor research and campaigns, in order to promote understanding and behaviour change to help people cut waste, make clothes last longer, save money and create cleaner spaces to live and work in.
SDG Topics: All SDGs.
SDG Academy (Multidisciplinary Resources)
Free educational resources from the world’s leading experts on sustainable development. The SDG Academy creates and curates free massive open online courses and educational materials on sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
SDG Topics: All SDGs
UN Sustainable Development Solution Network (Multidisciplinary Resources)
The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was set up in 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. SDSN works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, and civil society.
SDG Topics: All SDGs.
Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities: A Guide for Universities, Higher Education Institutions, and the Academic Sector (Sustainable Development Goals Material)
Getting started with the SDGs in universities outlines the key roles universities – and the higher education and academic sectors more generally – have in contributing to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the benefits of becoming engaged. It provides practical guidance on how to get started with deepening contributions.
SDG Topics: All SDGs.
Social Media for Social Good: Student engagement for the SDGs (2019) by Sheila Killian et al. (Management)
This paper presents and reflects on the evolution of an innovative, interdisciplinary module which engages undergraduate students with a range of non-profit actors, working in teams with the aim of developing and deploying business skills for social good The module combines experiential learning with service learning, and has proven to have very positive outcomes for students, partner organisations and the Business School, University and teaching team. We describe the context in which the module was developed, how it evolved over time, and its impact both within and outside of the University. The module is contextualised by reference to the PRME Principles and the commitment of the Business School, a PRME Champion Institution, to the realisation of the SDGs. Data is drawn from pre- and post-delivery surveys over a three year period as well as the student voice in the form of reflective journals and end-of-semester submissions and feedback from partner organisations. The offering is described at a level of detail intended to enable other institutions to replicate or develop this model further.
SDG Topics: Quality Education
An exploration of student learning for sustainability through the WikiRate student engagement project (2019) by Alec Wersun et al. (Management)
This paper highlights that WikiRate is a pedagogical innovation that develops knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) for sustainability. The WikiRate pedagogical innovation is helpful in developing a sustainability mindset. Responsible Management Educators should use more the student's voice to understand what students learn from different pedagogies.
SDG Topics: Quality Education
Reducing carbon emissions in business through Responsible Management Education: Influence at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels (2020) by Petra Molthan-Hill, Zoe P. Robinson, Alex Hope, Aldilla Dharmasasmita & Ella McManus (Strategic Management)
There has long been an understanding that to achieve meaningful progress against sustainability challenges, action is required at multiple levels. With regards to education initiatives, these levels range from macro-level international agreements and activities such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education, meso-level influences such as the role of national bodies supporting sustainability in higher education, and micro-level influences such as the commitment of individual universities or departments. However, decision makers are individuals and the development and delivery of such initiatives requires action at the level of the individual. This paper explores the impact of working within and across these different levels and how jointly they help to work towards addressing carbon reductions in a partnership setting between a business school and various organisations. In its centre is an educational initiative carried out in the United Kingdom in the core curriculum of Nottingham Business School where students conduct a carbon footprint of an organisation and recommend measures to reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions. The total recommended greenhouse gas emissions savings from two years of the project were 507, 435 kg CO2e, averaging over 10 tonnes per organisation and 2 tonnes per student. If this project was extended over 5 years and taken on by an additional educator, the potential reductions increase to 2,562,418 kg CO2e. It demonstrates that action undertaken at the micro-level can result in significant impact at the macro-level when scaled up and provide significant benefits to actors across all levels from individuals though to all participating organisations. This initiative has proven very successful in delivering SDG 7, SDG 13 and SDG17; if taken up by more business schools the impacts on the targets of these SDGs and the climate change agreements could be significant.
SDG Topics: Quality Education / Affordable and Clean Energy / Sustainable Cities and Communities / Climate Action / Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions / Partnerships for the Goals.
Faculty sensitization and development to enhance responsible management education by Normande Paula Arruda Filho & Barbara S.Przybylowicz Beuter (Human Resources)
Even in educational models that encourage students to be protagonists of their learning, the role of the teacher still carries great meaning as a reference in the academic environment. For educational institutions, these stakeholders are extremely strategic, since they are the bridge between the school and the student, being able to assume the role of a spokesperson for the mission and the values of the Institution in which they operate. This article describes the methodology adopted by the Brazilian business school, ISAE, which aimed to train its faculty on the principles of responsible management education promulgated by the UN PRME initiative. Inspired by Jacques Delors' (2006) ‘Five pillars of education’, the school created a project that evolves from the traditional pedagogical encounters, raising awareness and qualification of its faculty in themes that are transversal to technical education. In order to understand the main results of this project, this paper presents research carried out with participating teachers, through which it was possible to verify the effectiveness of the project in improving the relationship between the school and this stakeholder, as well as valuing the teacher's role in disseminating the principles of responsible management education.
SDG Topics: Quality Education / Decent Work and Economic Growth / Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.
Good Practice Handbook for the Dissemination of the SDGs in Education Institutions (Sustainable Development Goals Material)
This collaborative report brings together the experiences of the group that focuses on encouraging action and contribution to the UN agenda.
SDG Topics: All SDGs.
February 26, 2020
From Preaching to Behavioral Change: Fostering Ethics and Compliance Learning in the Workplace by Christian Hauser (Human Resources)
Despite the increasing inclusion of ethics and compliance issues in corporate training, the business world remains rife with breaches of responsible management conduct. This situation indicates a knowledge–practice gap among professionals, i.e., a discrepancy between their knowledge of responsible management principles and their behavior in day-to-day business life. With this in mind, this paper addresses the formative, developmental question of how companies’ ethics and compliance training programs should be organized in a manner that enhances their potential to be effective. Drawing on both the qualitative analysis of existing ethics and compliance training and the conceptual literature on behavioral ethics, a framework is proposed that consecutively aligns various types of training into a comprehensive ethics and compliance training program. The strengths and limitations of the suggested framework are discussed.
SDG Topics: Quality Education / Decent Work and Economic Growth / Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.
January 27, 2020
Video Series on the SDGs (The UN Global Compact, PRME and the SDGs)
PRME Champion schools Hanken School of Economics in Finland, Audencia Business School in France, La Trobe Business School in Australia, and ISAE/FGV in Brazil have created video based learning material on each of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Check out this blog post for links to videos about all 17 goals.
SDG Topics: All
Embedding Project (Multidisciplinary Resources)
The Embedding Project is an online resource to help companies embed sustainability into their decision-making and business operations. There is an open access website full of resources and many of these could also be used by business schools to integrate the SDGs into their core business model.
SDG Topics: Decent Work and Economic Growth / Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure / Sustainable Cities and Communities / Responsible Consumption and Production / Climate Action / Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions / Partnerships for the Goals.
Redefining Success by Patricia M. Flynn (Editor); Tay Keong Tan (Editor); Milenko Gudić (Editor) (Strategic Management)
Redefining Success: Integrating Sustainability into Management Education advocates incorporating sustainability concepts that go beyond the financial 'bottom line' into management education and business practice. Highlighting the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), it explores conceptual and practical issues, presents case studies and other empirical evidence, and offers solutions that will both encourage and assist management educators in the incorporation of sustainability into their courses and research. incorporating sustainability into their courses and research. Written by 34 individuals from 17 countries, the book addresses these topics from a variety of theoretical, disciplinary, geographic and organizational perspectives. The authors demonstrate how management educators, collaborating with business and civic organizations, can be change agents for a better world. Written for educators, scholars and business practitioners, the volume concludes with lessons learned, challenges encountered, and implications for responsible management education.
SDG Topics: Quality Education / Decent Work and Economic Growth / Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure / Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions / Partnerships for the Goals.
January 24, 2020
Addressing the climate change and poverty nexus by Charles, A., Kalikoski, D. & Macnaughton, A. 2019, FAO (Management Science)
Climate change threatens our ability to ensure global food security, eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development. About 736 million people live in extreme poverty, and the global response to climate change today will determine how we feed future generations. By 2030, UN member countries have committed to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger for people everywhere. As ending poverty and hunger are at the heart of FAO’s work, the organization is helping countries develop and implement evidence-based pro-poor policies, strategies and programmes that promote inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods, as well as to increase the resilience, adaptive and coping capacity of poor and vulnerable communities to climate change. In order to achieve this, FAO encourages an integrated Climate-Poverty Approach to support policy development and action by policymakers, government officials, local-level institutions, communities, researchers, and development and humanitarian agencies worldwide. The Approach has been developed with insights from many perspectives, and includes not only climate and poverty aspects, but also indigenous, gender, food security, disaster response, resilience, SIDS and coastal community perspectives, among others. With a series of policy recommendations and tools to improve the design, delivery, and results of synergies and linkages between climate mitigation and adaptation, poverty reduction and food security actions, these synergies and linkages can make significant contributions towards achieving both the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement targets.
SDG Topics: No Poverty / Zero Hunger / Gender Equality / Climate Action / Life Below Water.