Tackling today’s societal challenges: How can universities collaborate with public and private sector organisations for public good?
Event details
School for Business and Society Launch
Societal challenges of the 21st century are many and diverse; for example, environmental sustainability, food and fuel poverty, social care, mental health, and public accountability all affect many people's lives on a daily basis. How can we tackle such a range of ever-evolving social, economic and environmental problems? How can universities work in collaboration across sectors regionally, nationally and internationally to overcome them? Join our panel of leaders as they discuss these grand challenges of our time, and as we celebrate the launch of the University’s new School for Business and Society.
The new School combines and amplifies the University’s strengths in responsible business management, social and public policy, social work and public management, to create an environment that will help develop the ethical leaders of tomorrow. Continuing the City of York’s historical legacy as a leading voice for responsible business and social reform, the School is uniquely placed to lead business and public policy action to tackle complex social and environmental issues and deliver sustainable inclusive growth.
The session will be chaired by Paul Kissack, Group Chief Executive of Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT).
About the speakers
Sanjay Bhandari
A recent Honorary Graduate of the University, Sanjay is Chair of Kick It Out, English football’s leading equality and inclusion charity. He is an active and recognised thought leader in equality, diversity and inclusion. He was a member of the Premier League’s Equality Standard Independent Panel for four years and is part of the Government-sponsored Parker review into the ethnic diversity of UK boards. Sanjay has a portfolio career and is also a Board Member at a law firm and a number of charities. Prior to this, Sanjay had a 30-year career in law, compliance and technology including 12 years as a partner of EY where he also served as a Chief Innovation Officer.
Shadi Brazell
Shadi Brazell joined the Impact Investing Institute in July 2021 as Programme Manager for place based impact investing. She is focused on making it easier for investors to do effective place-based impact investing (committing to investments within a target geography that generate a financial return as well as positive social, environmental and economic impacts for local communities). Before she joined the Institute, Shadi worked for the Greater London Authority’s Housing and Land team, where she was responsible for a significant investment portfolio. She has also served as Senior Adviser to the Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, including a return to that role to help manage City Hall’s housing response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Erinch Sahan
Erinch is the business and enterprise lead at the Doughnut Economics Action Lab. Recently, he was the Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organization and previously spent seven years at Oxfam leading campaign initiatives, and founded Oxfam’s Future of Business Initiative. Erinch has also worked at Procter & Gamble as a market strategy manager, established a furniture business and worked for Australia's aid programme. Erinch is a board member of the Social Enterprise World Forum and teaches sustainable value chains at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Bob Doherty
Bob Doherty is Dean of the School for Business and Society at the University of York. He is the Principal Investigator of the 5-year Transforming Food Systems SPF funded programme FixOurFood. Former University of York lead for N8 AgriFood with the role as Director of the N8 Food Systems Policy Hub and former research theme leader for sustainable food in the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI). He is also a trustee of the Fairtrade Foundation and is a member of the Fera Science Committee and sits on the Grow Yorkshire board. In addition, Bob spent 5-years as Divine Chocolate’s first Head of Sales and Marketing from inception in 1998 until 2003 before moving into academia.
The panel will be followed by an exhibition showcasing the breadth of work taking place within the School in the Spring Lane Atrium.