The Festival of Ideas 2019

We are delighted to announce that the Festival of Ideas 2019 will be taking place on Monday 8 April. Returning for its second year, the Festival is a fantastic way for Leeds University Business School to showcase the quality and breadth of its research and highlight the ways in which other academic disciplines, industry and communities can engage with our work.

The event is open to:

• University of Leeds academics from all Faculties
• Those in industry, looking to collaborate with Leeds University Business School

This year, the Festival of Ideas is co-hosted by Nexus, an innovation hub that aims to seamlessly connect businesses to academic expertise and facilities across the University. Nexus is the perfect partner for the Festival as we want to show how we work with third parties to create research that has a meaningful impact on society. For this reason, the Festival comprises presentations followed by plenty of time for discussion, to encourage idea generation and collaboration between attendees and Business School speakers. The event will see academics, senior business leaders and policy makers address key challenges in business today.

Following a welcome from Professor Lisa Roberts (Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, University of Leeds) and myself, the opening plenary will be led by Dr Jo Ingold (Leeds University Business School), Ben Hepworth and Richard Bridge (Department for Work and Pensions) to discuss how members of the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change have been working with the Department for Work and Pensions. Professor Adam Crawford (Leeds Social Sciences Institute) will speak next, highlighting what University support is available to develop collaborative research.

The rest of the day will consist of parallel sessions focussing on a number of relevant topics. These include:

• Technology and digital disruption
• Communication and behaviour
• Finance at a global and local scale
• The human side of technological innovation

For example, Professor Krsto Pandza will be discussing organising for innovation and responding to digital disruption; Dr Gabriella Eriksson will be speaking about road safety and driver behaviour; Dr Annina Kaltenbrunner will be focussing on internationalisation and changing financial practices in Brazil; and Dr Gary Graham will be looking at who’s responsible for self-driving cars. The event will close with a session from Nexus on connecting businesses with world-leading research.

Our academics are conducting research that is cross-disciplinary, relevant and impactful. We look forward to sharing our insights and working with you at the festival.

To find out further information about the one-day event and to register, visit the webpage.