Funding is available for an additional PhD scholar to study full time at the ICCSR, starting in October 2008. The scholarship will cover full tuition fees as well as tax-free living expenses of £ £12,940 per year (ESRC rate). 

Applications must be for study in one of the following ICCSR priority areas:

• Constructing socially responsible investment in the United Kingdom
• The role of regulation and social and environmental reporting in the United Kingdom
• Government Policies for CSR (UK, Comparative or International research)
• CSR in India (eg CSR and government, CSR and sustainable development)
• CSR and Non-market Activities (e.g. corporate political activity, lobbying or the media)
• CSR and sustainable development

Your entry into the scholarship competition will require your acceptance onto the Doctoral Programme. Students who want to be considered for this scholarship competition should submit their postgraduate application by 25 April 2008 at the latest. You can complete your Postgraduate Application in hardcopy or online at http://pgapps.nottingham.ac.uk.

Indicate that you are interested in this scholarship in the personal details section of the online postgraduate application form or section 3 of the hardcopy postgraduate application form. In response to the question 'how do you expect to pay for you studies' you need to state 'ICCSR Scholarship applicant'.
You should also submit, with your application, your research proposal, two academic references, academic transcripts and English language (if required). Scholarship applications will be evaluated on the basis of former qualifications, academic background, references and research proposal.

All of the documentation relating to this must be submitted by the scholarship deadline of 25 April 2008.

Further guidance on the application process, preparation of a research proposal and English language requirements are available on the doctoral programme pages of the Business School website. Preliminary advice on preparing your full application may be available, please see the ICCSR website for further details.
 

Copenhagen Business school, an EABIS partner, organizes an international conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Responsibilities for Human Rights, and International Law on the 6-7 November 2008. The focus of the conference will be around the question: "Where do we go after the final report of the SRSG on Human Rights and Business?"

Topics to be addressed during the conference will include:

• The recommendations of the SRSG (Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights and Business): Implications and role for international law and intergovernmental regulatory initiatives
• CSR, business responsibilities for human rights, and liability issues: challenges and potential for management and legal advisers
• CSR and regulation of business responsibilities for human rights: challenges and potential for management theory and practice

A call for papers has been issued for this conference. Abstracts for papers (200-300 words) addressing the topics should be sent to Karin Buhmann, Associate Professor, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, no later than 1 May 2008.

Please have a look on the conference homepage to learn more about the programme and the call for papers.  

A new issue of Regulation & Governance has been published by Blackwell Synergy. This new issue is devoted to "Health care and new governance: The quest for effective regulation" and is edited among others by Louise Trubek (Law), Joseph Rees (Political Science) and Carol Heimer (Sociology).

To have free access to the contents, please go to http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/rego/2/1

You can also visit the journal home page and Table of Contents of previous issues under http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/rego

The Cambridge Sustainability Research Digest is a monthly briefing on a selection of the latest global research on leadership for sustainability, compiled by Rebecca Collins and edited by Wayne Visser for the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI).

In the January Issue you will find articles on:

1. Climate Change Regulation Survey (Global: Clifford Chance)
   
2. Societal Issues Survey (Global: Assessing the impact of societal issues, McKinsey)
3. Cost of Energy Poll (Global: Globescan)
   
4. Ethical Reputation Ranking (Globescan: Covalence Ethical Ranking 2007, Covalence)
   
5. Sustainability Performance Study (Global: RiskMetrics)
   
6. Emerging Markets Report (Emerging Markets: Market Movers: Lessons from a Frontier of Innovation, SustainAbility) ­

The January issue of the Digest, can be downloaded from:
http://www.cpi.cam.ac.uk/resources/publications/sustainability_research_digest.aspx  

Call for Contributions for book on 'Innovative Corporate Social Responsibility: From risk management to value creation'. The key theme of this book is how to shift from risk management to value creation. The objective is to explore this theme both theoretically and empirically as well as through real case studies and experiences.

Deadline for abstract: June 01, 2008

Editors:

• Céline Louche, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School
• Samuel O Idowu, London Metropolitan University Business School
• Walter Leal Filho, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained recognition and the business community has been developing significant and genuine efforts to contribute to sustainable development. Yet criticisms of CSR in its current form have been apparent, often related to the lack of value that it generates in the enterprise and offering only a partial and short-term response to the full challenge of sustainable development. The time has come to shift the CSR focus away from risk management towards a more progressive and entrepreneurial approach that seeks to create value and identify sustainability opportunities for strategic innovation.

With this book we want to explore, inspire and support creative, innovative and strategic CSR. As defined by the European Commission (COM 2002/347), CSR is the business contribution to sustainable development. New partners of consumptions and productions are necessary to move towards sustainability requiring in-depth changes where innovation and creativity are key components (Roome, 2006). Innovation means new products, services and technologies and in addition; new organizational and institutional systems, structures and new business models which empower the organization to advance strategically in an ever competitive business world.

Both research and practice show that CSR has been mainly addressed and approached in terms of value protection and risk management, where the main objective has been to protect companies’ existing assets or avoid scandals. Therefore, in many cases where CSR remains at the forefront of business activity, it does not lead to fundamental changes and is not yet integrated as a strategic component where it could create value, generate new ideas and open new opportunities (Grayson, 2004).

‘How to shift from risk management to value creation?’ is the key theme of this book. The objective is to explore this theme both, theoretically and empirically as well as through real case studies and experiences.

Contributions

The list below is by no means exhaustive, and all contributions relevant to the theme of the book will be considered.

• Strategic CSR
  
• CSR and strategic capabilities
• CSR and strategic management
• CSR and innovation (technological, organisational, structural and institutional innovation, development of new business models or management practices)
• Innovative CSR
• Corporate social opportunity(ies)
• CSR and value creation
• CSR and (firms) competitiveness
• CSR and stakeholder value creation
• CSR and creativity 

Academic and practitioners papers, theoretical, empirical and case studies are welcome. Papers should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Case studies should be between 2,500 and 5,000 words in length. Schedule

The submission deadline for initial expressions of interest in the form of abstracts of approximately 500 words is 30 June 2008. Abstracts should be sent as e-mail attachments to the Céline Louche (celine.louche@vlerick.be).

Contributors whose abstracts are felt appropriate for the theme of the book will then be asked to submit full papers by 31 October 2008.

Contributors will be informed of the acceptance of their contributions or be invited to submit final revised papers by 31 December 2008. It is intended that the book will be published by February 2009.

Main deadlines:

• 01 June 2008: Deadline for abstracts (500 words)
• 01 July 2008: Notification of acceptance of contributions
• 01 October 2008: Deadline for full contribution (max. 10 000 words)
• 01 November 2008: Reviewers feedback
• 01 December 2008