King's College London

The Centre for Sustainable Business (CSB) at King’s Business School has awarded seed funding to six promising projects within the field of sustainability.

The CSB Seed Fund was launched in February 2024 to nurture early-stage research and advance important work in sustainable business.

As the world continues to grapple with the urgent need for more sustainable business practices, the Centre for Sustainable Business aims to empower researchers to initiate projects that address these key sustainability challenges.

By offering small grants ranging from £5,000 to £15,000, the CSB Seed Fund provides support to researchers and collaborators to develop innovative solutions over the next six to 12 months.

The Seed Fund has been awarded to six projects that focus on the Centre’s four key themes: Sustainable Consumption, Sustainable Business Systems, Sustainable Finance, and Leadership for Sustainability.

The Seed Fund selection process

The selection process for the Seed Fund was rigorous, with an assessment panel evaluating proposals against a set of key criteria. The panel was looking for projects that demonstrated academic novelty, analytical rigor, and societal relevance.

In addition, proposals that demonstrated a strong interdisciplinary approach were given priority, as the Centre is particularly interested in fostering connections between different fields of study and encouraging researchers to develop strategies that can drive meaningful change across sectors.

The ability to provide practical solutions for businesses transitioning to sustainable practices was another key consideration, reflecting the King’s Business School’s commitment to supporting research that can drive tangible change and have real-world impact.

Announcing the winners

After careful deliberation, the Centre for Sustainable Business is proud to announce the following winners of the Seed Fund (in no particular order):

• ‘Insider change agents in the advertising industry.’

This study explores how insider change agents in advertising align future visions with present actions to drive sustainable practices across their industry.

Project leads: Dr Elisa Alt, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, and Dr Andreana Drencheva, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship.

• ‘Hot Snow: Addressing global warming in the alpine sport and tourism industry.’

‘Hot Snow’ investigates present and future responses to the global warming challenges for an efficient, effective and sustainable development of the winter and sport tourism industry in Italian Dolomites.

Project leads: Paolo Aversa, Professor of Strategy. Co-investigators:

Juliane Reinecke, Professor of Management Studies & Faculty Director for Sustainability, Saïd Business School & University of Oxford. Alberto Nucciarelli, Associate Professor of Strategic Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Trento. Martin Carlsson-Wall, Director of the Center for Sports and Business & Professor of Accounting, Stockholm School of Economics.

• ‘United we research: Decoding co-created management studies.’

This study will analyse co-creation methods in management research to develop more inclusive, relevant, and impactful approaches to knowledge production.

Project leads: Dr Andreana Drencheva, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, and Dr Anna Rebmann, Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship.

• ‘Exploring the influence of human resource management practices on the implementation of environmental sustainability projects in the NHS.’

Based on early projects to fulfill the NHS’s target of becoming carbon net zero by 2040, this research explores how HRM conditions influence the implementation of sustainability projects in healthcare.

Project leads: Dr Nick Krachler, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management, Stephen Bach, Executive Dean & Professor of Employment Relations, and Ian Kessler, Professor of Public Policy and Management.

• ‘Decentralised social media platforms as effective vehicles for climate change activism.’

This project investigates how alternative digital platforms, their algorithms, and their digital affordances, enable climate activists’ alternative forms of organising.

Project lead: Dr Michael Etter, Reader in Entrepreneurship and Digitalization.

•  'The New EU Battery Regulation: Impacts on the EV Supply Chain.'

This study will explore how the new EU battery regulation will affect the sustainability of the Lithium-Ion Battery value chain and the potential for vertical integration in EV manufacturing.

Project leads: Dr Laura Lander, Lecturer in Engineering, and Dr Dragos Radu, Senior Lecturer in Economics.

These projects stood out for their innovative approaches, strong interdisciplinary collaborations, and clear potential to make a significant impact within sustainable business.

We congratulate the winners and look forward to learning more about their impactful research as their projects progress.

About the Centre for Sustainable Business (CSB)

The Centre for Sustainable Business, based within King’s Business School, is dedicated to advancing sustainable business practices that can have a lasting impact on society and the environment. By supporting projects that bring together expertise from diverse fields, the Centre aims to foster pioneering research and collaborative solutions that are both practical and scalable for businesses.

Make sure to follow the Seed Fund winners’ progress via the Centre’s LinkedIn page.

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