Transforming Tomorrow
The Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business
Sustainability is a key consideration for any contemporary business, from biodiversity to modern slavery, seabeds to factory floors. Transforming Tomorrow guides you through the complex, ever-changing and often exciting (yes, really!!) world of sustainability in business.
Alongside members of the Pentland Centre, international research experts, and business leaders, we cover the theory and practice of mainstreaming sustainability into purposeful business strategy and performance.
Whether you are leading change in your business, or just want to know more about how space weather, human trafficking or architecture may influence the future of sustainability, Transforming Tomorrow is the show for you.
Taking you through it all, hosts Jan and Paul bring insight, perspective, and more than occasional disagreement to their topics.
Professor Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University. Jan is an expert on accounting, benchmarking (to her co-host’s annoyance), and how business and sustainability intersect. She loves nature and wants to protect it – and hopes she can change the world (ideally for the better). She is also motivated to address inequality wherever it is found and especially to eliminate forced, bonded or child labour. Transforming Tomorrow is one small step on that quest.
Paul Turner is a former sports journalist who now works promoting the research activities in Lancaster University Management School – a poacher turned gamekeeper as his former colleagues would have it. He has always been interested in nature and the natural environment – it comes from growing up in Cumbria – and has been a vocal proponent of the work of the Pentland Centre since joining Lancaster University. He does not like rankings and benchmarking, and is not afraid to say so.
Join us every Monday to uncover new insights and become a little more inspired that you can make a difference in sustainability.
Alongside members of the Pentland Centre, international research experts, and business leaders, we cover the theory and practice of mainstreaming sustainability into purposeful business strategy and performance.
Whether you are leading change in your business, or just want to know more about how space weather, human trafficking or architecture may influence the future of sustainability, Transforming Tomorrow is the show for you.
Taking you through it all, hosts Jan and Paul bring insight, perspective, and more than occasional disagreement to their topics.
Professor Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University. Jan is an expert on accounting, benchmarking (to her co-host’s annoyance), and how business and sustainability intersect. She loves nature and wants to protect it – and hopes she can change the world (ideally for the better). She is also motivated to address inequality wherever it is found and especially to eliminate forced, bonded or child labour. Transforming Tomorrow is one small step on that quest.
Paul Turner is a former sports journalist who now works promoting the research activities in Lancaster University Management School – a poacher turned gamekeeper as his former colleagues would have it. He has always been interested in nature and the natural environment – it comes from growing up in Cumbria – and has been a vocal proponent of the work of the Pentland Centre since joining Lancaster University. He does not like rankings and benchmarking, and is not afraid to say so.
Join us every Monday to uncover new insights and become a little more inspired that you can make a difference in sustainability.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 6, 2023 • 29min
ICT and Sustainability
Professor Adrian Friday joins Jan and Paul to talk about the many ways technology can influence sustainability efforts – both good and bad.
We discover how he came to be a Professor of Computing and Sustainability – and just what that means – why having fewer people in offices does not always result in less energy being used, and why Adrian – to Jan’s shock – is not a big fan of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Plus – is beer sustainable? The answer to this question will delight the drinkers of North West England.
You can find out more about Adrian’s work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/scc/about-us/people/adrian-friday
Episode Transcript
Oct 30, 2023 • 28min
Digital Inequalities
Jan and Paul are joined in the studio by Professor Katy Mason to discuss digital infrastructure and inequalities – and why naughty trees and inconsiderate weather affect planning large-scale projects in more isolated areas.
Katy discusses two projects – Mobile Access North Yorkshire (MANY) and 5G Rural Integrated Testbed (5GRIT) – that brought digital technologies to rural areas in the North of England. She explains why isolated areas can miss out when new tech is rolled out, how these technologies can help in unexpected ways – from assisting mountain rescue teams to tracking sheep on the fells in heavy snow – and the importance of involving communities in the rollout.
You can find out more about the MANY project here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/research/innovation-in-place/#d.en.520893 and about Katy’s research projects here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/people/katy-mason
WARNING: This episode contains language that may upset some listeners, as ‘infrastructuring’ is used as a verb in defiance of all rules of English.
Episode Transcript
Oct 9, 2023 • 23min
Modern Slavery and Sustainability
Jan and Paul welcome Distinguished Professor Linda Hendry to talk about an area that affects tens of millions of people worldwide - modern slavery.
Linda's work looks at modern slavery in company supply chains. It takes in the impacts - good and bad - of legislation, how companies are responding to issues, and how businesses work together to improve practice and modern slavery detection. There is also accounting, to Jan's delight.
Read more about Linda's work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/people/linda-hendry
Episode Transcript
Oct 2, 2023 • 27min
Business and Biodiversity
Jan and Paul are joined in the studio by Duncan Pollard, whose career has taken him from Nestle to the WWF - not the wrestling version, to Paul's disappointment - forestry to Shell, and now to the Pentland Centre.
Duncan has worked across NGOs and corporate sector on issues regarding biodiversity and sustainability, and explains the importance of companies understanding their impact on the climate and the biosphere, and how work at the Pentland Centre is looking at what good reporting on that impact would look like, and whether companies understand that.
You can read Duncan's blogs on business and biodiversity here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/news-and-events/blog/
Reporting on Nature 2022: A Navigation Guide: Reporting on Nature 2022 - Lancaster University
And find out more about the Pentland Centre's interest in the area here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_Transforming-Tomorrow/13/
Episode Transcript
Sep 28, 2023 • 25min
The Sustainable Development Goals
You will be hearing the term SDGs a lot in this podcast, but just what are the Sustainable Development Goals?
Professor Jan Bebbington and Paul Turner examine what these 17 goals mean and how they tie into the research and activity that takes place across the Pentland Centre.
Find out more about the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) project Jan is involved with here: https://seabos.org/
Episode Transcript
Sep 24, 2023 • 23min
Introducing the Pentland Centre
What is the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business? What do we mean when we say sustainability?
Professor Jan Bebbington and Paul Turner explain all.
Episode Transcript
