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While everyone else is looking ahead, let’s take a quick glance back at what caught readers’ attention most on CBS WIRE in 2019.
Whether you've wrapped up buying your Christmas gifts already or are more of a last-minute shopper, you might find this top 10 interesting. Two CBS researchers have trawled Google for this year’s most sought-after gifts and made a top-10 list. Maybe some of them will be under your tree too?
PhD Fellow Charlotte Biil has a mission: to make research within the fields of the work environment and partnership building more available to practitioners, and she is about to submit one of the few reports of its kind on the subject in the Nordics. She calls herself a ‘knowledge broker’, a person who bridges the gap between practice and research, and urges more researchers to adopt the same role.
Tea, smartphones, T-shirts and electric cars are all the result of global supply chains, and while companies and consumers often want supply chains to be cheaper, faster and more flexible, a group of researchers from CBS and NORDAKADEMIE in Germany would rather they were transparent, ethical, social and circular. “Global supply chains are the most overlooked topic for solving current climate challenges,” says one of the researchers.
Like a chameleon, capitalism has changed over the years. Now, we are standing on the verge of a new crisis, and either capitalism will change again, or be replaced by something else, argues CBS researcher, Lara Monticelli. She has established a world-wide network of researchers who are trying to explore and rethink capitalism – and we might want to look to India for living proof that “real utopias” are possible.
Our longing for togetherness is what makes us queue up on Black Friday for cut-price flat screens and super-stretch trekking pants, explain two CBS researchers. They also answer whether our focus on sustainability might eventually kill the need for consumer frenzies.
CBS researcher Pernille Steen Pedersen has turned her stress research into a tangible tool for fighting stress at Denmark’s workplaces. An activity that comes at a cost, but immediately becomes worthwhile when complimentary emails pop up.
Out of DKK 1,925 billion, the Danish Parliament has agreed to set aside DKK 1.5 billion of the research reserve for fields such as the transformation of agriculture, ecofriendly transportation and sustainable cities. An additional DKK 340 million has been allocated for promoting researchers’ innovative ideas.
Greta Thunberg has become the Joan of Arc of climate action. Millions idolize her, while others are downright enraged by her. But how did a 16-year-old girl have this effect? And how did she – and not researchers – succeed in making global warming and other climate challenges the hot topics of our time? CBS WIRE explores the Greta Thunberg effect.
CBS can do more to improve its research communication. This includes supporting its researchers in strengthening their communication skills, as well as giving researchers time to focus on third-party communication, argues the Head of Analysis at the Think Tank DEA. She believes an overemphasis on the number of published articles is a barrier to better communication.
“Luck is not a business model” – these are apparently the words of the American celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain. But if luck isn’t a business model, where does that leave us? In this podcast, you’ll meet Thomas Ritter, professor at the Department of Strategy and Innovation at CBS. He has researched companies, and how they earn money, for pretty well all his life, and he’s certainly the man to consult about Business Models.
It is too difficult to figure out what research CBS researchers do, if you ask Mette Fjord Sørensen, Head of Research, Higher Education and Diversity at the Confederation of Danish Industry. And at a time when natural sciences are in the spotlight, humanities and social sciences need to step up and show how they can be useful to society and companies, she argues.
Diversity is a vital aspect of disrupting and innovating, but you cannot acquire it simply by hiring a diverse work force, argue Florence Villeséche and Alex Klinge, researchers at CBS. As co-organizers of this year’s Diversity Day on October 8, they are aiming to investigate how diversity and innovation go hand in hand and what role research plays in making diversity a success.
Two CBS alumni have started the company Matter Pension, which invests people’s pensions sustainably. “When asked if they are interested in financing global warming, most people say no. But most pensions give them no choice,” says co-founder Emil Stigsgaard Fuglsang. An expert in pensions at CBS explains that pension companies are playing a major role in the green transition and have made large investments over the past few years.
Two CBS researchers claim that writing articles no one cares to read is a waste of time and money. The Dean of Research at CBS, Søren Hvidkjær, disagrees, arguing that conducting research implies that you don’t always make useful discoveries. However, he admits that CBS should be better at showing how society benefits from CBS research.
Rankings of researchers and universities are based on the number of scientific articles published. And that’s a huge problem, argue two CBS researchers. They think researchers should also be measured on their ability to conduct and disseminate research valuable to society. One of the researchers is taking the matter to the Minister for Higher Education and Science.
The phenomenon of flight shame is spreading, but researchers don’t know why we feel like this or what the consequences of it are. Assistant Professor Florian Kock from CBS is going to investigate the nagging feeling that, according to him, can end up making even more people choose to fly. It’s quite paradoxical.
CBS’ three PhD schools are facing reorganization as they merge into one by January 1, 2020. According to the Dean of Research it’s a “natural” consequence of department mergers in recent years and part of strengthening CBS’ PhD environment which has suffered from a drop in the number of students.
So far, the REFLOW project has taken up most of Associate Professor Cristiana Parisi’s time. Weekends, holidays, spare time, work time. And she’s totally fine with it. The project involves 27 partners and covers 10 European countries, with the aim of turning waste into a resource and making the six cities of Amsterdam, Berlin, Vejle, Paris, Milan and Cluj-Napoca in Romania circular. Also, the project is the largest of its kind at CBS.
“Five years ago, you wouldn’t see sustainability-related research published in the big, mainstream journals. Now it’s a natural part of them,” explains CBS Professor, Andreas Rasche. With the Director of CBS Sustainability, Jeremy Moon, he reflects on the outcomes of the five-year collaboration between the Velux Endowed Chair in Corporate Sustainability and the Governing Responsible Business World-Class Research Environment that just came to an end.