FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 5 Professor Claire Leitch is the Executive Dean of Lancaster University Management School c.leitch@lancaster.ac.uk We are in a new academic year, which always brings with it hopes and aspirations for what lies ahead over the coming months. As a School, we have recently celebrated our reaccreditation by EQUIS – following hot on the heels of AASCB, and with AMBA to come in the new year. These accreditations reflect many areas of success and capability within LUMS, not least the high quality of our research. This is evident in every edition of Fifty Four Degrees; indeed, much of the work featured in this one shows how our researchers are able to think differently, and change how we perceive areas such as road travel, leadership or climate change. Joe Deville’s work with National Highways in England demonstrates how something we become so used to in our lives can change quite dramatically. The advent of autonomous vehicles means the motorways of the near future may be very different to those we are accustomed to now, and it is fascinating to read about how the people in charge of our roads must adapt. Different thinking is also required when it comes to cyber security. Our Cyber Security Executive MBA – delivered in partnership with the School of Computing and Communications here at Lancaster and industry-leading cyber security consultants Templar Executives aims to foster the next generation of cyber leaders. For us, programme codirector Dan Prince outlines how cyber innovation can provide businesses with the opportunity to grow and advance in new ways. If cyber is a new frontier, then the topic of leadership is as old as civilisation itself. We are in a world where most organisations – and nations – are led by a figurehead, be it a CEO, a Prime Minister, or a President. But not all of them, and Dermot O’Reilly provides insight into alternative organisational and leadership structures. Leadership is essential when it comes to helping to prevent catastrophic climate change. However, the issue of sustainability can be one that is hard to grasp for individuals and businesses alike. Articles from Carolynne Lord, Marian Iszatt-White and Joanne Larty explore new ways of thinking about climate change, from taking companies beyond the constant talk of net zero, to comparing green agendas to fairy tales, and looking at how we as business and management schools address the sustainability agenda. For those of you who would like to find out more about our work in the sustainability field, I can heartily recommend the new podcast from the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business, Transforming Tomorrow. Pentland Centre Director Jan Bebbington and Paul Turner – who when he is not recording podcasts is also editor of Fifty Four Degrees – provide an insight into the work of centre researchers across many topics. They and their guests have already discussed the Sustainable Development Goals, business and biodiversity, and the links between sustainability and modern slavery, and by the time you read this there will be more episodes available. You can find Transforming Tomorrow wherever you normally download your podcasts or by visiting pod.co/transforming-tomorrow I hope that we will be able to give you news on further LUMS podcasts showcasing our work in the near future. Until then, I hope this edition of Fifty Four Degrees makes you think differently about some new subjects, or those you may have thought you knew well. Foreword Welcome to Issue 19 of Fifty Four Degrees. Subscribe online at lancaster.ac.uk/fiftyfour SUBSCRIBE
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI5NzM=