Transdisciplinarity and the paradox of two ESGs: Co-option, Collision or collaboration?
Chair(s): Joanna Stanberry (Doctoral Student, Initiative for Leadership and Sustainability, University of Cumbria, United Kingdom)
Presenter(s): Janis Balda (Senior Lecturer—International Business, Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), Satesh Bidaisee (Professor, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, St. George's University, Grenada), Joanna Stanberry (Doctoral Student, Initiative for Leadership and Sustainability, University of Cumbria, United Kingdom), Peter Case (Professor of Organization Studies, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, UK, Professor of Management, James Cook University, Australia), Eleftheria Egel (Business Mentor, Scholar, Startup Founder, Navigating Transformation- Female Entrepreneurship Consultancy, Muellheim- Germany), Hugo Gaggiotti (Professor in Work and Employment Studies, Bristol Business School, School of Business and Law, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
There currently exists a paradox between Earth System Governance (as perceived by scientists, intergovernmental organisations and civil society) and “Environmental Social and Corporate Governance” (as perceived by businesses as the en vogue reporting mechanism and investment strategy for sustainability). A discursive analysis demonstrates that concepts like stakeholders, inclusiveness, social responsibility, environment, and innovation take on dissimilar meanings in both theory and practice though both consider how risks and opportunities related to the environment and society are managed.
This innovative session engages with a reflexive transdisciplinary coproductive process directed at podcasting. Between proposal acceptance and the conference, the scholar-practitioners will engage in questioning and reflection, producing creative responses that are introduced in podcast segments. Portions of the resulting podcasts and our learnings will be shared during two innovative sessions of 4-5 presenters who engage participants in a reflective process to create participatory spaces across differences to coproduce new practices.
The contributors will draw on extensive experience in transdisciplinary research that employs participatory methods to ensure that outcomes of research inquiry and engagement are inclusive, equitable, and actionable. The innovative approaches introduced and debated will challenge assumptions regarding ontological divides between ‘research’ and ‘practice’, ‘the social’ and ‘the material’, ‘hard science’ and ‘social science’.
As scholar-practitioners working at different scales and across disciplines and regions towards the post-2015 development agenda, we ask how experiences from practice and related research might inform an Earth System Governance that more effectively engages business in transdisciplinary approaches and corporate governance that redefines opportunity.
To that end we ask: What knowledge and consciousness of the self is needed to challenge assumptions about “leadership” that have added to the divide among social and ecological systems and bridge the operative settings - corporate, political, organisational - to advance Earth System Governance?
