Transforming Tomorrow

Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity have become dirty words in some quarters recently. But not on Transforming Tomorrow. We want to talk about the need for greater gender equality in business, the challenges the movement is encountering in the face of Donald Trump and other vocal critics, and how Malaysia measures up when it comes to EDI. Sunway University’s Professor Yuka Fujimoto has spent years...

Economic inequality from childhood impacts on all aspects of life, affecting work prospects, educational attainment, and health outcomes. Reducing inequality, therefore, is central to building a better future for millions of people. From the site of a former mining operation just outside Kuala Lumpur, we are joined by Professor Mahendhiran Sanggaran to discuss how the location is now home to Sunwa...

We’re by the pool in the Malaysian sunshine. But we’re not here to sunbathe – we’re talking all things sustainability in a country with challenges both familiar and foreign to Western Europe.  Jan’s ‘academic granddaughter’ Dr Ann Marie Sidhu is a chartered accountant who works with business and government in Malaysia on the challenges of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. We discuss what...

It’s time to look to the future and consider what comes next for society and industry. Dr Rebecca Liu, from Lancaster University Management School’s Department of Marketing, and Steve Kremer, from consultancy Periphas, who specialise in connecting technology innovators, join us to discuss Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0. Both concepts envision the world’s next evolution. This means a vision of a supe...

Not everyone takes breakfast, lunch and dinner for granted. For millions, there is no guarantee of where their next meal will come from, or its quality. Biraj Patnaik, Executive Director of the National Foundation for India, introduces us to the concepts and realties food poverty and food inequality, and how his organisation works with communities on the margins of Indian society towards enabling...

Are you a public or a private person? Or maybe a bit of both? It’s not always easy to say. The same goes for how we characterise the public and private sectors. The private sector goes beyond a simple characterisation of making a profit – and the public sector beyond providing services for people. The boundaries are blurring – where do the public and private sectors meet, and how does their symbio...

Young people are bombarded with a huge number of issues – from cost-of-living to the challenge of finding employment, an ever-changing global political landscape to inclusion. Where does sustainability fit into the mix? Darren Axe, Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS)’s International Membership and Engagement Manager, has an ironic name given he has planted many trees during his career – a...

How do we educate the next generation on sustainability? How do we help them think of themselves as citizens of ‘one world’? What are their – and our – responsibilities as future responsible leaders? Dr Jose Alcaraz-Barriga, from Lancaster University Leipzig, tell us how he teaches his students to connect business activities with the planet’s future. Jose takes his own knowledge on planetary bound...

Can a big in-person event be sustainable? Or do all events need to move online? Do you spend your time at parties wondering how sustainable it is – and how it could be better? Hilary Barraclough oversees events organisation across Lancaster University, and she and her team try to make them as sustainable as possible. From promoting sustainable travel to and from venues, to ensuring lower levels of...

What do businesses get up to in the two-thirds of the world’s oceans outside national jurisdictions? Professor John Virdin has always loved the ocean – despite growing up hundreds of miles from the sea. As Director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Programme at Duke University Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions in North Carolina, he has a job title too long for his business card,...

What can you do to transform your business? What actions can you take to help it be more sustainable? How can your operations be part of the overall sustainability solution and shaping a better society – and how can this ensure your own success? Professors Julia Binder and Knut Haanaes from IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, are here to discuss their new book Leading the Sustainable Bus...

The law is back in town! How can you legislate for plastic pollution all around the world? Is it possible to get close to 200 countries to agree on the way forward? What will such a treaty include? Dr Alexandra Harrington is an environmental law specialist in Lancaster University Law School who has been part of the negotiations for a proposed international plastics treaty as a UN-accredited observ...

There are around 144,000 people in the district of Lancaster – from the city itself to Morecambe, the villages and rural areas beyond. They produced 8,998 tons of household recycling in 2023. So, why do these residents only recycle 36% of their plastics? What could you as a resident do to improve your habits? And what happens to the plastic that is recycled when the council collects it? It’s time...

Do you know what happens to your plastic recycling after your bins are emptied? As we continue our journey through the plastics pipeline, we encounter bin juice and the Mafia. Lancaster University’s Dr Clare Mumford and the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM)’s Richard Hudson take the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project to the final stage of its process – how plastic waste is...

Listening to this episode can change your shopping habits! Do supermarkets care about the planet? What actions are they taking to reduce waste? How are they changing their packaging to address the plastics problem? The team hit the road to speak with Katie Gwynne and Jane Routh, from Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project partners Booths, about how the supermarket chain thinks and acts around...

How do you treat plastic waste in your home? Are you a good consumer? A good recycler or a wishcycler? And is recycling the first thing you see when you open the door to your house? Professors Alex Skandalis and James Cronin bring their marketing and consumer culture expertise to the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives project – and to the podcast – to analyse consumer behaviours around plastic. B...

It’s not just consumers who need to change their attitudes and behaviours around plastics. Packaging manufacturers and retailers need to take action too. Professor Linda Hendry makes a return visit to the podcast, explaining how her work on supply chains unites her interests in plastics as part of the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives (PPiPL) project and on modern slavery. We look at how food pr...

“I just want to say one word to you. Just one word… plastics.” We don’t have Dustin Hoffman, but we do have a journey into a fascinating world as we take a deep dive into the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives (PPiPL) project. Dr Alison Stowell and Professor Maria Piacentini join us as we discover how consumers think and behave when it comes to plastic food packaging, and how PPiPL hopes to chang...

Take a moment to consider what your local area. Do you feel connected to it? Does it feel like a real home? Morecambe Bay is a natural marvel. Stretching from Fleetwood in the south to Barrow-in-Furness in the north, it encompasses Lancaster, Morecambe, and many small towns and villages along the Lancashire and Cumbria coastlines. And Paul feels right at home as he and Jan welcome Carys Nelkon and...

How can business and management schools help to shape the leaders the world needs? It’s time to examine how we operate, and how we can change to better suit the businesses of the future. Dr Marian Iszatt-White becomes our first return guest as she talks to Jan and Paul about her work on the B-School to ESG School project. Her latest work is looking at how Environmental, Social and Governance shoul...

What is normal now was not always so. People used to smoke in bars and offices; junk food used to be advertised during children’s TV programmes; drivers and passengers used to travel in cars without seatbelts – but not now, and for some people it feels it has always been this way. Professor Carlos Larrinaga, from the University of Burgos, talks us through the process by which new ideas spread and...

Jan is a joy rider. And that’s just great. Not everyone is an elite athlete, but we should all be active. The World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) is doing important work with some of the biggest names in their sector to help make this a reality. Emma Zwiebler, a World Championship and Commonwealth Games badminton player who is now CEO of the WFSGI, explains how the trade associ...

It’s Paul’s worst nightmare – a whole episode about ranking and accrediting business schools!  Learn how business schools build sustainability into their operations; why accreditation bodies – whose backing schools rely on for their prestige – take the issue so seriously; and how important the topic is when it comes to rankings. Rose White, External Accreditation Manager at Lancaster University Ma...

Jan’s considering a new career – should she become a sustainability officer? Chief Sustainability Officers are among the fastest growing jobs in the UK – but who are these people, what do they do, and does anyone actually listen to them? Dr Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs, from the University of Strathclyde, brings gifts from her allotment to the studio as well as an avid interest in all things sustaina...

Bring back the accountants – and the taskforces! It’s time to look at how companies identify and report on nature-related impacts and opportunities. We make an investigation of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and its work with the Pentland Centre’s Dr Neytullah Ciftci – Neo to his friends – who works with Jan on that very topic. Discover how companies can change nature...