UWE Business | Bristol Business School blog

The Distinguished Professorial Address: Professor Sylvia Walby -“Gender and the crisis”, March 30th

Faculty of Business and Law | 9 March 2017

The Bristol Business School invites you to Professor Sylvia Walby’s Distinguished Professorial Address at UWE Bristol on Thursday 30 March. Register your place here.

Sylvia Walby OBE is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, UNESCO Chair of Gender Research, and Director of the Violence and Society UNESCO Centre at Lancaster University. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and of the RSA.

She was the founding President of the European Sociological Association; and has been President of Research Committee 02 Economy and Society of the International Sociological Association. She has served on the sub-panel for Sociology for HEFECE REF2014, and as a non-executive director of the UK National Commission for UNESCO.

Her research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the European Commission, European Parliament, European Institute for Gender Equality, Council of Europe, ESRC, and the UN. Books on ‘society’ include: Crisis (Polity 2015); The Future of Feminism (Polity 2011); and Globalization and Inequalities: Complexity and Contested Modernities (Sage 2009). Books on ‘violence’ include: The Concept and Measurement of Violence against Women and Men (Policy Press 2017), and Stopping Rape: Towards a Comprehensive Policy (Policy Press 2015).

Her address will look at answering the question “Is the mid-twentieth century European nightmare, in which financial crisis led to economic recession, fascism and violence, being repeated today?”

Abstract:

“What constitutes crisis is contested. The construction of government deficits as if they entailed fiscal crisis to be treated as a state of exception is contested. The cascading of crisis from one institutional domain to another is also contested, since renewed democratic forces potentially provide sites of resilience and resistance.

The significance of gender relations in this democratic resistance is often underestimated. How is the crisis restructuring the gender regime? The complex inequalities on which the financial crisis draws, and which the development of global finance exacerbates, intersect in diverse ways. The paper argues for a gendered conceptualisation of the crisis, not as ‘refamilialisation’ in which women are pushed out of production back into reproduction, but rather as a critical turning point in the trajectory of the public gender regime from a more social democratic form to a more neoliberal form.

The paper offers analyses of gendered practices of the stages of the crisis. It addresses whether the crisis – erupting in finance in 2007, and cascading through the economy, the fiscal, and the political – is now leading to an increase in violence. The theorisation of crisis is developed using complexity science, gender theory, and a reworking of the concept of social system.”

The event is free to attend. Register your place here.

The Faculty of Business and Law launch new Research Centres and Groups

Faculty of Business and Law | 27 January 2017

A ‘soft launch’ of the new research centres and groups was held on 25^th January 2017 at the Executive Conference Centre. The groundbreaking research undertaken at UWE Bristol aims to make its mark on business, industry and the wider community.

There are three new research centres and five research groups:

CALR- Centre for Applied Legal Research
BCEF – Bristol Centre for Economics and Finance
BLCC – Bristol Leadership and Change Centre

The groups are:

IOMS – Innovation, Operations Management and Supply
HRM – Human Resource Management
AMG – Applied Marketing Group
EE – Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
BBEC – Bristol Business Engagement Centre

Donna Whitehead Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean in her introductory remarks stated:

‘I’m really excited about the future of our research. What we are launching today represents our ambitious and creative values. We have created new research centres and groups that really reflect our strengths; where we have significant resource, capacity, capability and ambition’

Presentations were given on each of the research centres and the research groups, outlining the aims of each centre or group.

All the presentations stressed the applied nature of their research and links with their stakeholders.

The soft launch was held prior to Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE, Chairman of Cobra Beer’s Bristol Distinguish Address.

In his concluding remarks Lord Bilimoria congratulated the centres and groups and focused on the benefits of collaborative research that impacts on both policy change and decision -making. Lord Bilimoria outlined the benefits of collaborative research and the resultant opportunities.

Over 120 staff and external stakeholders attended the soft launch.

The Bristol Business School Alumni networking drinks and panel discussion on the entrepreneurial mindset

Faculty of Business and Law | 6 January 2017

Back in December, the Bristol Business School hosted an alumni networking event at the Arnolfini which included a panel discussion that focused on the entrepreneurial mindset.

The panel was made of two alumni and was chaired by Carol Jarvis, Associate Professor in Knowledge Exchange. The first panel member was Tim Hughes, an MBA alumnus who is now a success coach. Tim was joined by Steven Curtis, who is an alumnus from the Team Entrepreneur degree and has successfully launched his own business restoring old BMWs.

The panel were asked to share their experiences and what the entrepreneurial mindset meant to them before the guests asked the panel questions.

After the panel discussion, the alumni guests were given the opportunity to network over refreshments.

The photos of the event can be found here.

Donna Whitehead Invites Business Alumni to Join New Bristol Business School Celebrations

Faculty of Business and Law | 27 October 2016

“Here at Bristol Business School, we are proud to have such a vibrant community of alumni underpinning our success and leading our development.

Our alumni are already a big part of the new Bristol Business school and the construction of its new home on Frenchay Campus. So when the building starts buzzing with life in early January 2017, we would love our alumni to join in the celebrations.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing ways for you to help us from donating to the new building, mentoring a current student, giving a guest lecture or getting involved with the alumni festivities, reunion activities and networking events wherever you are based.

Firstly, we would love to see photos of your UWE Bristol days, hear your memories and reflections on what your time here meant to you, to share and feature in the alumni archive for the new building.

All entries will go into our prize draw, to win a private trip for two people in UWE Bristol’s hot air balloon!

Tweet them to us using #UWEBristolMemories
Send them to us by email or post

It’s the growing success of our network of alumni that has made this new world-class hub for students, academics and professionals possible. We hope you will help us celebrate the successes that have led us to become the Business School we are today, and join us on the next step of our journey to drive innovation, research and economic growth.”

Donna Whitehead
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean, Faculty of Business and Law

Two Books by Authors from Bristol Leadership and Change Centre Shortlisted for CMI Management Book of the Year Award

Faculty of Business and Law | 20 October 2016

Two books by members of Bristol Leadership and Change Centre at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, have been shortlisted for the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Management Book of the Year award. Held in association with the British Library and sponsored by Henley Business School, this competition aims to celebrate the best of management books published or distributed in the UK, from the most inspiring to the most useful.

The shortlisted books are Leadership Paradoxes: Rethinking leadership for an uncertain world, edited by Richard Bolden, Morgen Witzel and Nigel Linacre (Routledge, 2016), and Employability: Making the most of your career development, by John Neugebauer and Jane Evans-Brain (Sage, 2016). Both were been submitted to the Management and Leadership Textbook category, and are part of a shortlist of five.

Professor Richard Bolden, Director of Bristol Leadership and Change Centre, says “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award. Whilst traditional texts tend to analyze a range of well-known leadership theories and concepts, this book takes a problem-centered approach to illustrate the lived experience of leadership and how this informs, and is informed by, assumptions and beliefs about the dynamics of power, purpose, and identity in organizations. By exploring the ideas in this book, readers will recognize the limitations of many widely assumed truths about management and leadership and develop a more nuanced appreciation of the nature of influence and change in complex, ambiguous and uncertain environments.”

Dr John Neugebauer, Visiting Research Fellow at Bristol Leadership and Change Centre, said “We wanted a book which will be of real value to graduates. The book will help graduates find the right role and support their work development once they are in work. The book has been written to be support studies in employability and career, as well as being highly practical. In addition to theory, it includes our own HR management experience, and research with over 50 graduates across all disciplines. We have also included advice from employers as diverse as investment banking to international aid, careers advisers and recruitment specialists.”

Category and overall winners will be announced at an awards dinner at the British Library on 6^th February 2017. For further details please visit: http://yearbook.managers.org.uk and follow #ManagementGold on Twitter.

Dr Glenn Parry speaks at Gregg Latham’s Solicitor Event: “The Internet of Us; What does privacy mean in the digital age?”

Faculty of Business and Law | 26 September 2016

glen-parry — Ed Boal, Geoff White, Emily Turner and Glenn Parry at the Gregg Latcham’s Business Network Event

On the September 1^st, Dr Glenn Parry, Associate Professor in Strategy & Operations Management at UWE Bristol, spoke at the 2^nd Gregg Latchams’ Business Network Event: “The Internet of Us; What does privacy mean in the digital age?”, held at the Watershed.

The event, hosted by Gregg Latchams’ Digital and Media team, explored the meaning of privacy in the digital age.

The event started with award winning television news journalist Geoff White showing attendees how the global technology industry harvests data leaking from personal devices through a live, interactive phone hacking stage performance. Geoff also took guests into the dark web, the hidden network of websites where a parallel black market in personal data is thriving.

Glenn spoke on a panel after the demonstration with Emily Taylor, Emily Taylor Internet Research and Editor of the Journal of Cyber Policy; Ed Boal, Associate Solicitor at Gregg Latchams’; and Geoff White.

Dr Parry spoke about his research focussed on the Digital Economy, where he is the co-investigator on the EPSRC Hub of All things project that aims to give control of personal data back to the individual.

As Dr Parry explained, online privacy is objective – are you being observed? Vulnerability is subjective and relates to your individual risk.

An individual may feel vulnerable even if online privacy is high. At the moment firms you use such as electricity companies, retailers, banks etc. each hold a ‘vertical’ supply piece of data but don’t know your use context. Context exists in the horizontal at a point in time, or location across multiple vertical data sets. Part of the reason Facebook and Google offer you the opportunity to use their passwords to gain access to websites is to get that horizontal data. However, this raises important questions as to privacy and vulnerability.

Dr Parry is working as part of the new EPSRC HAT Living Lab project to ask questions about user vulnerability. He hopes the research will lead to understanding of online privacy, vulnerability and help to create frameworks that can guide business in the future.

The full Q + A with Glenn can be found here.

Social mobility pioneer Clive Lewis OBE appointed to Board of Governors

Faculty of Business and Law | 20 September 2016

5197 — Clive Lewis OBE appointed to Board of Governors

A business psychologist who pioneered a national scheme to increase social mobility and employability among young males from disadvantaged backgrounds has been appointed a member of the Board of Governors at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).

Clive Lewis OBE has been appointed as one of the 12 independent members on the Board, which is the university’s principal decision-making body.

He set up the Bridge Builders Mentoring Scheme, connecting pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds with business mentors. It provides mentoring, training, work placement opportunities and inspirational speakers.

Clive was inspired to start the scheme after he chaired a Government-appointed panel established to explore the costs of underachievement for young males from deprived backgrounds. The report produced by the panel, named REACH, identified a cost of £24 billion across education, employment and the criminal justice system.

In 2011, he was appointed OBE for his work on the three-year project as well as his efforts in the field of workplace mediation.

As founder of the Globis Mediation Group, Clive has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of mediation in the UK. A commercially-trained mediator, he specialises in resolving complex one to one, team, organisational and collective disputes.

A former Kingfisher and Dixons executive, Clive is also a non-executive director of an NHS Foundation Trust and the author of thirteen books. He was commissioned as a Deputy Lieutenant in 2012.

Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor of UWE Bristol, said, “It is with great pleasure that we welcome Clive to the Board. His commitment to boosting social mobility is very much in tune with the strengths and ethos of our University. Clive’s skills, experience and expertise will be highly valued as we progress with the University’s Strategy 2020 and our confident ambitions for the future.”

Clive became a Board member at UWE Bristol on 1 August. He will serve on the Board’s Strategic Planning and Performance Committee and on the Student Governor Forum.

The Board is responsible for setting the educational character and mission of the university, ensuring the efficient use of resources and approving budgets. Made up of a cross section of 19 internal and external members, it meets three times each academic year.

Business and Law Clinic launches at UWE Bristol’s £16.5m Enterprise Zone ‘Future Space’

Faculty of Business and Law | 12 September 2016

As part of its new University Enterprise Zone (“UEZ”) activity, the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) is launching a pro bono legal service for small businesses in collaboration with Bristol law firm Gregg Latchams Ltd and international legal practice Osborne Clarke LLP. This support will be provided within the new Future Space Centre on Frenchay Campus.

The weekly Business and Law Clinic will provide pro bono legal advice to small businesses in Future Space and across the South West. The key objective of the innovative venture will be to provide SMEs, growing businesses and start-ups with business–legal advice at a critical stage in their development.

A selected group of law students, both undergraduates and postgraduate professional students, will provide the advice on areas such as corporate and commercial, employment, litigation and dispute resolution and tax. Supervised by practising solicitors from Gregg Latchams, Osborne Clarke and UWE Bristol, the students will gain real-world insight and experience, providing them with valuable skillsets and exposure to the world of business. In addition to the Clinic, students will also be providing ‘essentials’ workshops in the professional services of law and accounting.

UWE Bristol’s Future Space, which opened its doors on 15 August 2016, is part of a new University Enterprise Zone, one of four that have been set up nationally and supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Assisting businesses specialising inrobotics, digital and creative technologies, biosciences and other high tech areas, UEZ will bring an estimated economy boost of £85m as well as over 450 new jobs to the region.

Donna Whitehead, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean who has led this initiative at UWE Bristol said, “This initiative deepens and broadens the University’s engagement with local businesses and the community and will really enhance the experience of our students in the Faculty, ensuring they are business–ready whilst also providing valuable expertise to growing businesses and start-ups at a critical stage in their development. We are delighted to be working with Osborne Clarke and Gregg Latchams.”

Peter Clough, Head of Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office said, “Future Space plays to the strengths of Bristol as a vibrant technology and enterprise hub, offering crucial space and advice for startups and SMEs in the area. We’re looking forward to seeing the innovative companies and working alongside the best and brightest students that UWE Bristol has to offer.”

Ken McEwan, Director and Head of Dispute Resolution at Gregg Latchams Solicitors said, “Gregg Latchams are particularly proud to be associated with this project having a strong presence in the digital, media and technology sector. This exciting venture offers a great opportunity for us to build relationships with companies of the future, demonstrates our commitment to SMEs and fills an important gap to provide support to new enterprise.”

The new Business and Law Clinic is in addition to the renowned pro bono work that already takes place within the law school at UWE Bristol. As well as the services being provided for businesses, students will also from the autumn be offering a new weekly drop-in service under the supervision of practitioner tutors at Citizens Advice Bristol’s offices in Fairfax Street. Advice will cover areas such as benefits, debt, employment and family matters. In June, its work withAvon & Bristol Law Centre won ‘Pro Bono Initiative of the Year’ at the nationalLawyer Awards 2016.

The launch event and first 30 mins clinics are scheduled to take place on Wednesday 12 October from 14:00-17:00 at Future Space. For small businesses wishing to sign up for this event – please register using the link below: UWE Business and Law Clinic – Launch Event and First Clinic

Faculty of Business and Law Fundraising Event at the House of Commons

Faculty of Business and Law | 7 September 2016

On Tuesday 6 September UWE Bristol launched its £2 million public fundraising campaign to help raise funds for the new Faculty building currently under construction.

This £2million fundraising campaign supports the university’s £56million commitment to build a new facility to house the Bristol Business and Law Schools, a much needed hub in the South West of England to drive forward regional growth and boost the local economy. The new building will promote collaboration and bring our students into direct contact with today’s business leaders, great legal minds and successful entrepreneurs.

The launch was held at the iconic Houses of Parliament and was attended by London based alumni. John Penrose MP welcomed the alumni and friends to the event before speeches were given by Donna Whitehead, Executive Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean, and Tracy John, Head of Research and Business Development.

Guests were treated to canapes and drinks which they could enjoy on the terrace which overlooked the sunny South Bank.

The event was designed to inspire alumni and friends to engage with the project and the university, as well as providing an opportunity for the alumni and staff to reconnect.

An incredible £1.2 million has already been raised towards the campaign target from previous fundraising activities. Thank you to everyone who has already donated.

All the money raised through this campaign will have a life changing impact on our current and future student population, as well as a huge impact on businesses in the Bristol area.

If you would like more information on the campaign or to find out how you can make a donation you can take a look at our Business and Law Schools fundraising campaign pages or get in touch with the team on development@uwe.ac.uk.

Bristol Distinguished Address Series: Autumn schedule now available

Faculty of Business and Law | 2 September 2016

The Bristol Distinguished Address Series provides a unique opportunity to hear about the challenges, issues and decisions being made at the highest level of strategic leadership. The free lectures run throughout October and November 2016 and are open to all. The full schedule can be found below:

Wednesday 21 September: Developing the right skills for the future of the UK aerospace industry: Mark Stewart, GM and HR Director, Airbus

In this address Mark Stewart, General Manager and Human Resources Director, Airbus Operations Ltd and HR Director Airbus Group UK, will set out how the UK aerospace industry is meeting the challenge to get the best people with the right skills to design and manufacture the next generations of civil aircraft in the UK.