Collaborating to Build a Sustainable Future Together

Conference Attendees
Sunway Business School

Sunway Business School (SBS) and Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) celebrated their 16-year partnership with a research conference, themed 'Collaborating for a Sustainable Future,' on July 25-26, 2023.

Prof. Sibrandes Poppema, President of Sunway University, set the tone with an inspiring address emphasising the importance of sustainable research collaboration between the two institutions.

LUMS members actively engaged, fostering knowledge exchange and new collaborations. The session was moderated by Mr. Brian Gregory - Director of the LUMS Entrepreneur in Residence programme, with four wonderful iron ladies: 

  1. Datin Zameema Banu binti Mohamad Arif - Senior Vice President Group Sustainability, AmBank Group
  2. Ms. Elina Jani - CEO of GreenTech Malaysia Alliance (GTMA) - a subsidiary of Malaysian Green Technology & Climate Change Corporation (MGTC)
  3. Ms. Jasmine Voo - Director in the Capital Projects & Infrastructure and Energy Transition for Sustainability, PwC Malaysia
  4. Ms. Pauline Goh - Vice Chairman of Swiss Malaysian Chamber of Commerce, Belgium-Luxembourg Chamber, and Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serdang Selangor

The last session was a live online keynote speech by Prof. Ian Walker - Professor of Economics LUMS, IFS and IZA, from Lancaster University.

On the next day, the Conference began with an engaging and informative forum titled "How to Publish Quality Research in Top Management Journals". Esteemed Prof. Yuka Fujimoto, Associate Dean (Research), skillfully moderated the discussion with three distinguished panels:

  1. Prof. Lim Weng Marc - Dean, Sunway Business School
  2. Prof. Marwan Izzeldin - Associate Dean (International) LUMS, Lancaster University
  3. Prof. Shantanu Banerjee - Professor of Finance LUMS, Lancaster University

Following this, two parallel sessions were conducted- one on Corporate Social Responsibilities and another on Management & Technology. These sessions were chaired by two distinguished academics: Dr Koon Vui Yee, Principal Teaching Fellow from the Department of Management, and Dr. Ibrahim T. Nather Khasro, Lecturer from the Department of Business Analytics.

The penultimate session featured an insightful workshop titled "Collaborative Research between Global South and Global North." This engaging workshop highlighted promising research opportunities within these regions, such as global supply chain dynamics, business sustainability, and artificial intelligence. Prof. Yuka Fujimoto and Prof. Shantanu led the discussion, guiding participants through a fruitful exploration of collaborative possibilities.

The final presentation was delivered by Prof. Mahendhiran Sanggaran Nair, focusing on urban poverty issues in the vicinity of Sunway University, specifically in an area known as Mentari Court, located approximately 2 kilometres away.

Before the conference, a pre-meeting on July 24, 2023 was held to identify common themes for enriching conference discussions.