FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 5 As I write, we are preparing for the start of the new academic year, with hundreds of new students and staff ready to join our LUMS community. What draws many of them to Lancaster is our high-quality research and worldleading expertise, produced in an environment where we nurture developing talent and help academics at the start of their careers develop the skills and knowledge to be at the cuttingedge of their disciplines. Our excellent results in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 demonstrate our success in creating a culture where all this is possible. Fifty Four Degrees is our showcase for that talent, for those researchers who produce impactful work; who specialise in areas of global importance such as sustainability, social justice and innovation; who work responsibly with businesses and communities to address issues of real societal concern. Business and Management Schools like ourselves have an important role to play in making a real difference to the world – it is something we have a long, proud history of through our work with SMEs, with government, with our local community. We strive to ensure our work continues to play a positive role regionally, nationally and globally. In this edition, our Associate Dean for Research, Katy Mason, explains our responsible research approach, our focus on key areas for now and the future, and how we can be a catalyst for broader change and development. You can also find examples of our work in those aforementioned areas of sustainability, social justice and innovation. In the social justice sphere, Emre Tarim examines how refugees are treated when they try to access and succeed in the labour markets of their new countries. Immigration is a major global issue – you need only to look at the arguments presented during the Brexit debate in this country to see that – and Emre highlights the importance of organisations in helping refugees and other immigrants to make a success of their new lives. There are different labour market issues that affect Black coaches in the National Football League. Rob Simmons and his colleagues look at patterns of employment in one of the world’s biggest sporting competitions, and find racial equity is still a long way from being achieved. From the innovation area, Joanne Larty has been part of the RECIRCULATE project, working with researchers and entrepreneurs in Africa to help them develop solutions to the continent’s clean water supply issues. Just as we involve communities, organisations and individuals in our work here in the UK, so RECIRCULATE has included them at the heart of the project in Africa. In the sustainability perspective, we are able to showcase two individuals who work with us in Lancaster from beyond the world of academia. Nadine Andrews is a Lancaster alumnus, a Visiting Researcher in the Pentland Centre for Sustainability, and a Principal Researcher with the Scottish Government, from where she shares her insights into Climate Assemblies and their effects on those who take part. Claire Benson is one of our pioneering Entrepreneurs in Residence. As Founder and Co-Director of SDG Changemakers, Claire helps to support SMEs and social entrepreneurs to improve the social, environmental and economic sustainability of their organisations, and here she outlines a compelling business case for adopting a sustainable model. Moving into the future, Cyber and Health are sure to be important areas in LUMS and for the wider society. The articles fromMykola Babiak on cryptocurrency funds, Ruilin Zhu on the role of social media in providing mental health support during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and Hina Khan on advertising in gaming apps provide different perspectives on these themes. If our research is to play a role in the wider world, then it can also bring the world around us to the education we deliver to our students. Radka Newton explains the importance of place in education, and how that can be applied here in Lancaster, and beyond. Finally, Beatriz Rodriguez Garcia takes us into dark tourism organisations, who shape how their audiences feel when they visit sites that have witnessed some of history’s greatest traumas. It is a fascinating read, and sitting alongside our other articles demonstrates the wide breadth of our research activity. As always, I hope you enjoy reading Fifty Four Degrees, and look forward to sharing more of our work with you soon. Professor Claire Leitch is the Executive Dean, Lancaster University Management School c.leitch@lancaster.ac.uk Foreword Hello andwelcome oncemore to Fifty Four Degrees. Subscribe online at lancaster.ac.uk/fiftyfour SUBSCRIBE
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