Staff Profile

Profile

Dr Cristina Neesham is a Reader in Business Ethics and CSR and Director of Business Ethics and CSR at Newcastle University Business School (UK). She has a PhD from the University of Melbourne (Australia), and has had multiple leadership roles in the Academy of Management and the Society for Business Ethics.

Cristina is also a Visiting Professor at Swinburne Business School (Australia) and the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (Romania). 

Roles and responsibilities

• Director of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (NUBS), leading:

-design and implementation of the School’s Ethics-Responsibility-Sustainability (ERS) Strategy

-initiatives for developing and embedding ERS in NUBS curriculum

-biennial Reporting to UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME)

-Systemic Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability (SERS) Network

-Sustainable Society Research Alliance (SSRA)

-NUBS ERS Group

-annual MBA Student Case Competition

-annual PG Sustainability Forum

• Co-Leader, Ethics and Justice Theme, NUCoRE Centre for Energy (SAgE)
• Member, NUCoRE Centre for Climate and Environmental Resilience
• Member, Newcastle University SDG Committee
• Member, Newcastle University Environment & Sustainability Committee

Qualifications and certificates

• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice/Higher Education, Monash University, Australia
• Graduate Certificate in Workplace Relations, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australia
• Graduate Certificate in Public Administration, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australia
• Teaching in Universities Certificate, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Bachelor of Arts, University of Bucharest, Romania

Previous positions

• Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Ethics in Management and Organisation, Department of Management & Marketing, Swinburne Business School, Australia
• Lecturer in Management, Department of Management, Monash Business School, Australia
• Visiting Scholar, University of Paris Nanterre, France
• Visiting Scholar, University of Adelaide, Australia

Awards

• Pro-Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award, Faculty of Business & Law, Swinburne University (2018). Citation: For significantly enhancing MBA students’ cognitive skills by fostering authentic learning in business strategy, through interactive problem-based case studies, reflective practice and authentic assessment
• Aspen Institute US Scholarship for Women’s Executive Leadership Programme (2007)

Memberships

• British Academy of Management (BAM)
• Academy of Management (US)
• Society for Business Ethics (SBE)
• European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS)
• European Academy of Management (EURAM)

Current work

My current research focuses on developing theories of value to address a range of sustainability issues:

• creating and maintaining ecologically sustainable organisations that can achieve mutual symbiosis with nature (developing relevant principles of sustainability management embedded in business strategy)
• redefining the responsibilities of global corporations for climate action
• counteracting the organised immaturity induced by digitalised socio-technological systems in institutions of democratic governance
• combatting and preventing online harms induced by digitalisation
• creating and maintaining cultural value based sustainable business models for cultural heritage organisations.

Main expertise

My main research interests involve ethics and sustainability issues raised by climate change and the introduction of new technologies (such as digitalisation and artificial intelligence) in organisations and communities. I have a particular interest in using philosophical methods to inform the strategic management of global-systemic problems such as climate change and socio-technological transformations.

I am part of the Strategy, International Business and Society (SIBS) research community at the Business School.

Other expertise

• Sustainability reporting and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Ethical issues in global public health surveillance
• Sustainability of institutional entrepreneurship in public-private partnerships
• Sustainability management through alternative organising in social enterprises and NGOs
• Ethical capability building in professional associations
• Research ethics methodology
• Philosophical methods for sustainability research
• Philosophical foundations of theory building through qualitative research

Funding received

• Assuring Citizen Agency in a World of Complex Online Harms (EPSRC £3.5mil, individual component £157K): Leader, Responsible Research and Innovation; Co-Leader, Corporate Digital Responsibility
• Cultural Value Based Strategies for Managing Cultural Heritage Organisations: Developing and Implementing Impact Objectives (NUBS Research & Impact Fund, £4,061): Co-Lead Investigator
• Capturing, sustaining and growing value in cultural heritage organisations: The case of Museums Northumberland (NUBS Research & Impact Fund, £4,819): Principal Investigator

Future research

I have interests in biosemiotic theories that can be applied to the design and development of ecologically sustainable organisations. 

Postgraduate supervision

Topics of current and recently completed doctoral dissertations include:

• Transdisciplinarity in Education for Sustainability
• Organizational Adoption of Digital Ethics
• Social Capital Benefits for Value Creation in Construction Industry SMEs (completed)

Interested in supervising on:

• theories of ecological organisation and sustainability management
• theories of value for alternative organising
• ethics and responsibility issues in climate action
• ethics and responsibility issues in digitalisation

Esteem indicators

• Member of the Social Issues in Management division's Leadership Team (Academy of Management)
• Guest speaker at the Philosophy of Management Conference, Oxford, 2022
• Editor-in-Chief, Philosophy of Management
• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Handbook of Philosophy of Management (Springer)
• Associate Editor for Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility

Media appearances

I am open to commenting about responsibilities of global corporations for climate action, issues of ecological sustainability management in organisations (e.g. in extractive and energy industries), and ethical issues in digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) applications – via TV, Radio, Articles and/or Podcasts. 

Recent appearances:

• AI could help us spot viruses like monkeypox before they cross over – and help conserve nature (theconversation.com) (co-authored with Ann Borda, Andreea Molnar, and Patty Kostkova), The Conversation, 27 May 2022 - most read piece by Newcastle University academics in 2022 (214,000 reads worldwide, republished by The Mandarin, Medical Xpress, Gizmodo, Newsify and EconoTimes.
• Climate change and global corporations: Five sources of responsibility failure, Newcastle University INSIGHTS Public Lecture, 23 November 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl9iQ1rHE4o&t=727s
• The Value of Ethics in Business. NUBS-of-It Podcast, 15 October 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3KKs8J-ydw&t=1787s
• Interviewed for “Future Managers: How You Can Prepare for a New Era of Socially Responsible Business”, QS Top Universities, March 2021.

Undergraduate modules

• Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics, BUS3017 (20 credits)

Postgraduate modules

• Strategic Management, NBS8126 (10 credits)
• Corporate Social Responsibility and the Challenge of Ethical Business, NBS8493 (10 credits)
• Research Based Dissertation for International Business Management, NBS8599 (50 credits)

In development:

• Sustainability Management and the Natural Environment, NBS8650 (10 credits)

• Articles

  • Neesham C, Dembek C, Benkert J. Defining Value in Sustainable Business Models. Business & Society 2023, Epub ahead of print.
  • Olabode S, Owens R, Zhang N, Copilah-Ali J, Kolomeets M, Wu H, Malviya S, Markeviciute K, Spiliotopoulos T, Neesham C, Shi L, Chambers D. Complex Online Harms and the Smart Home: A Scoping Review. Future Generation Computer Systems 2023. In Press.
  • Borda A, Molnar A, Neesham C, Kostkova P. Ethical Issues in AI-Enabled Disease Surveillance: Perspectives from Global Health. Applied Sciences 2022, 12(8), 3890.
  • Abhayawansa S, Adams CA, Neesham C. Accountability and Governance in Pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals: Conceptualising how governments create value. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 2021, 34(4), 923-945.
  • Mishra K, Neesham C, Coghill K, Stubbs W. A multilevel analysis of climate change inaction: case study of an Australian electricity company. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management 2020, 27(2), 173-199.
  • Biygautane M, Neesham C, Al-Yahya KO. Institutional entrepreneurship and infrastructure public-private partnership (PPP): Unpacking the role of social actors in implementing PPP projects. International Journal of Project Management 2019, 37(1), 192-219.
  • Newman A, Neesham C, Manville G, Tse H. Examining the influence of servant and entrepreneurial leadership on the work outcomes of employees in social enterprise. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 2018, 29(20), 2905-2926.
  • Neesham C, McCormick L, Greenwood M. When Paradigms Meet: Interacting Perspectives on Evaluation in the Non-profit Sector. Financial Accountability and Management 2017, 33(2), 192-219.
  • Beal BD, Neesham C. Systemic Corporate Social Responsibility: Micro-to-macro transitions, collective outcomes, and self-regulation. Social Responsibility Journal 2016, 12(2), 209-227.
  • Neesham C, Dibben M. Class Conflict and Social Order in Smith and Marx: The Relevance of Social Philosophy to Business Management. Philosophy of Management 2016, 15(2), 121-133.
  • Neesham C, Gu J. Strengthening Moral Judgment: A Moral Identity-Based Leverage Strategy in Business Ethics Education. Journal of Business Ethics 2015, 131(3), 527-534.
  • Gu J, Neesham C. Moral Identity as Leverage Point in Teaching Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 2014, 124(3), 527-536.
  • Tache I, Neesham C. The Performance of Welfare Systems in Post-Communist Europe: The Cases of Romania and Bulgaria. International Journal of Economic Research 2011, 2(5), 90-107.
  • Lewis C, Neesham C. Professionalising Parliamentarians to Promote Ethical Behaviour. Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics 2011, 13(1), 48-65.
  • Neesham C, Härtel C, Coghill K, Sarros J. Profit-making versus human value: Philosophy’s contribution. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 2010, 29(6), 593-608.
  • Neesham C, Tache I. Is there an East-European Social Model?. International Journal of Social Economics 2010, 37(5), 344-360.
  • Neesham C, Lewis C, Holland P, Donohue R, Coghill C. Educating and Training Parliamentarians. The Australasian Parliamentary Review 2010, 25(1), 41-48.

• Book Chapters

  • Coghill K, Norman B, Smith T, Neesham C, Kinyondo A. Improving the Governance of Governments. In: Baldwin KGH; Howden M; Smith MH; Hussey K; Dawson PJ, ed. Transitioning to a Prosperous, Resilient and Carbon-Free Economy: A Guide for Decision-Makers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp.591-620.
  • St John J, Neesham C. Paradigms in Responsible Management Learning and Education Research. In: Moosmayer, DC; Laasch, O; Parkes, C; Brown, KG, ed. The SAGE Handbook of Responsible Management Learning and Education. London: SAGE Publications, 2020, pp.502-521.
  • Neesham C, Macklin R. Political philosophy and business ethics. In: Poff, DC; Michalos, AC, ed. Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018.
  • Neesham C. Philosophical Foundations of Qualitative Organizational Research. In: Mir, R; Jain, S, ed. The Routledge Companion to Qualitative Research in Organization Studies. London, UK: Routledge, 2018, pp.21-39.
  • Gare A, Neesham C. Creating an Effective Business Ethics: Is Virtue Ethics Up to the Challenge?. In: Neesham, C; Segal, S, ed. Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Cham: Springer, 2018, pp.1-16.
  • Dibben M, Neesham C. Persons-in-Community in Whitehead, Smith and Marx: Exploring Marx’s Concept of Class through Adam Smith’s Concept of Social Order. In: Heinzekehr, J; Clayton, P, ed. Socialism in Process. Anoka: Process Century Press, 2017, pp.49-70.
  • Neesham C, Freeman S. Value Creation as Business Commitment to Responsible Consumption. In: Schwartz, M; Harris, H; Comer, DR, ed. The Contribution of Love, and Hate, to Organizational Ethics. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016, pp.207-229.
  • Neesham C. The Value of Ethics Education for Parliamentarians. In: Lewis, C; Coghill, K, ed. Parliamentarians' Professional Development: The Need for Reform. Dordrecht: Springer, 2016, pp.59-76.
  • Neesham C. Needs and Organizations: The Case for the Philosophical Turn. In: Mir, R; Willmott, H; Greenwood, M, ed. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy in Organizational Studies. London: Routledge, 2016, pp.483-490.
  • Van Gramberg B, Teicher J, Keddie J, Neesham C. Australia: Evaluating Performance in Public-Private Partnership Projects. In: Teicher, J; Van Gramberg, B; Profiroiu, M; Neesham, C, ed. Sharing Concerns: Country Case Studies in Public-Private Partnerships. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013, pp.9-36.
  • Neesham C, Dibben M. The Social Value of Business: Lessons from Political Economy and Process Philosophy. In: Schwartz, M; Harris, H, ed. Applied Ethics: Remembering Patrick Primeaux. Emerald, 2012, pp.63-83.
  • Tache I, Neesham C. Romania and the Global Financial Crisis: Impact and Challenges. In: Bartlett, W; Monastiriotis, V, ed. South Eastern Europe after the Crisis: a new dawn or back to business as usual?. London: London School of Economics, 2010, pp.105-112.

• Edited Book

  • Neesham C, Reihlen M, Schoeneborn D, ed. The Handbook of Philosophy of Management. Cham: Springer, 2022.

• Editorials

  • Jamali D, Markovic S, Barkemeyer R, Samara G, Agafonow A, Moosmayer D, Neesham C. BEER Heterodoxies: A new section to trigger unorthodox voices and perspectives. Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility 2022, 31(1), 1-3.
  • Mason C, Barraket J, Neesham C. Social enterprise in Oceania: Evidence, opportunities and challenges. Social Enterprise Journal 2018, 14(2), 118-129.