News and Events 2009
December 2009
12 December: Prof Suzanne Benn was interviewed by Westpac about how customers juggle various aspects when making sustainability-related purchases.
Visit the Westpac website here to read their article and listen online to Suzanne's response.
11 December: ARIES praised by international study
ARIES was one of several Australian practices singled out for praise in a recent report from the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutions titled Climate Change and Sustainable Development: the Response from Education.
Recommendations in the report include:
- integrating Education for Sustainability into school practices
- expanding the Education for Sustainability research base
- more training opportunities for teachers
- focusing on the skills to live sustainably.
Dr Dianne Chambers, from the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, prepared the Australian component of the report. More details are available here (University of Melbourne).
9 December: Sustainability and Future Supply Chain Workshop
This half-day workshop provided a practical, realistic introduction to the Thinking Systems framework for understanding and planning organisational innovation and sustainability in supply chains. Presented by:
-
Dr Alice Woodhead (founder and Director of Link Strategy)
- Prof Suzanne Benn (co-author of Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability and Director of ARIES)
November 2009
17 November: Inaugural Sustainability Roundtable Forum
Skills for the New Economy: Accountancy
The Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) hosted the first sustainability roundtable forum. The following organisations participated:
- Australian Institute of Company Directors
- CPA Australia
- Financial Services Institute of Australasia
- Australian Accounting Standards Board / Financial Reporting Council
- International Accounting Standards Board
- Australian Institute of Company Directors
- Business/Higher Education Round Table
- Council of Environment Business
- Professions Australia
- Skills Australia
- St James Ethics Centre
- Ernst & Young
- Pricewaterhouse Coopers
- Westpac
- Universities Australia
- UNSW
- University Technology, Sydney
- University of Queensland
- Monash University
- Macquarie University
The forum was sponsored by the Australian Department of the Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts and addressed the issues below:
- There is concern about the preparedness of many businesses to address looming issues such as the carbon economy.
- It is difficult for businesses to obtain reliable advice on future needs and the reporting systems required to address those needs.
- There is a projected shortage of Australian accounting professionals qualified to address future issues.
- There are limited opportunities for accounting professionals to acquire appropriate skills.
- There is a lack of consensus as to what those skills should be.
- Financial constraints apply to university schools of accounting.
- There is little opportunity for business, the accounting profession, government and the universities to engage in open dialogue on future challenges with regard to accounting, accountability, governance and the skills needed to provide for future needs.
12 November: Prof Suzanne Benn was an invited panel member at the 2009 Sustainability Conference in New Zealand. Eco efficient or eco effective: what should we expect from sustainable businesses in 2012? Conference Theme: The Sustainability Debate: The Way Forward Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand. For more information download the flyer here.
2 November: Prof Suzanne Benn gave a keynote presentation The Role for Community Education and Engagement at the Local Government Forum, Creating Sustainable Communities through Learning, Darling Harbour, Sydney. For further details: www.gemsevents.com.au/educationforum/index.shtml.
October 2009
30 October: Prof Suzanne Benn was invited to join a panel discussion on sustainability and its application in business, economics and regulation for the Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics Higher Degree Research (HDR) Expo at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney
21 October: Prof Suzanne Benn and Robert Perey gave an ARIES seminar and interactive workshop presentation: Learning & Change for Sustainability: Using education to enhance your program outcomes at the Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts, Canberra.
7 October: Chelliah J and Benn S (2009) HP Australia: Sustainability in Supply Chain Strategies, International Conference on Business and Information, Kuala Lumpur. bai2009.org/file/Pages/Strategy.htm
1 October: Prof Suzanne Benn gave a workshop presentation: Learning sustainability through systemic change, at the 9th International Conference of Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability, Macquarie University, Sydney.
September 2009
7 September: Robert Perey (ARIES) & Wendy Goldstein (Macquarie University's, Graduate School of the Environment) presented a session on environmental management with a corporate governance framework at the Australasian Correctional Leadership Program.
August 2009
29 August: Prof Suzanne Benn was invited to be a panel member for the panel session, Education for Sustainable Development, at the ACPET National Conference, Leading Learning in Times of Change. National Convention Centre, Canberra, ACT. http://www.acpetconference.info/
7 August: Prof Suzanne Benn contributed to a professional development workshop, Greening and Sustainability Across the Management Curriculum, at the Academy of Management Conference, Chicago. Action research as an approach to integrating sustainability into MBA programs: an exploratory study. http://meeting.aomonline.org/2009/ Prof Benn described the function and history of ARIES, with a focus on the MBA Action Research Projects.
July 2009
27 July: ARIES hosted a talk by Dr Noa Avriel-Avni, Post-doctoral fellow, Environmental Education Ramon Science Center, Ben Gurion Universit, Israel.
Title: A school-based network of environmental monitoring - An opportunity to develop the link between ecological literacy, environmental activism and sense of place.
Eleven schools from the Jewish and Bedouin populations in Israel, and from the city of Aqaba in Jordan are involved in this project. Each school becomes a site to monitor long term processes in the fields of climate, ecology, geomorphology and sociology. The cooperation developed between the school communities serves as a peace bridge between different social communities of the Negev and in other neighboring areas of the Middle East. www.pr.mq.edu.au/events/index.asp?ItemID=3851
June 2009
4–5 June: On behalf of DEWHA, Prof Suzanne Benn attended the ProSPER.Net General Assembly and the First Annual Symposium on Sustainability in Business Education at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. www.conferencealerts.com/seeconf.mv?q=ca1m036m
3 June: Prof Suzanne Benn was invited to be a Judge, Category of Business, for the first annual ProSPER.Net-Scopus Young Scientist Awards in Sustainable Development, Thailand. www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=108&ddlID=696
May 2009
12 May: Launch at UNSW of a special issue of the Journal of Environmental Management, edited by Paul Brown and Suzanne Benn 4 April 2009.
Brown P and Benn S (2009) “Toxic risk and governance: the case of hexachlobenzene’, Special issue, Toxic Risk and Governance, P Brown & S Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. Volume 90, Issue 4, Pages 1557-1558.
Benn S, Brown P and North-Samardzic A (2009). Decision-making in the “risk society”: challenges for organisational legitimacy and governance. Special issue, Toxic Risk and Governance, P Brown & S Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.05.021. Volume 90, Issue 4, April 2009, Pages 1655-1662.
Benn S and Jones R (2009). Forming corporate identity: symbolic capital, industry perspectives and community participation. Special issue. P Brown & S Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.05.014. Volume 90, Issue 4, April 2009, pages1593-1604.
Benn S, Dunphy D and Martin A (2009). New forms of governance: the relationship between corporations, government and communities. Special issue. Toxic Risk and Governance P Brown & S Benn (Eds), Journal of Environmental Management.
6 May: Prof Suzanne Benn gave a seminar about ARIES to the Macquarie University School of Biological Sciences.
April 2009
2–3 April: Prof Suzanne Benn participated as a member of the Expert Panel, Taking the Lead in Climate Change, 7th Annual Higher Education Summit, Melbourne. www.highereducationsummit.com.au.
Feburary 2009
6 February: Prof Suzanne Benn participated as a member of the Expert Panel in the Local Government Conference 'Governance for Sustainabilty', 5-6 February, Luna Park.
27 February: Prof Suzanne Benn was invited by the NSW Premier to participate in the Green Skills workshop. www.det.nsw.edu.au/industryprograms/green_skills/greenskills.htm
January 2009
23 January: Prof Suzanne Benn participated in a roundtable with Sustainability Victoria and the Sustainability Educators group in Melbourne.
22 January: Prof Suzanne Benn visited Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne to advise on integrating sustainability into the undergraduate business school curriculum.