Centre for Technology Strategy and Systems
PhD Research Studentship 1999
Applicants are invited for an ESRC Collaborative (CASE) Studentship for full-time postgraduate
study for up to three years from October 1999. The Centre for Technology Strategy and Systems
is officially recognised by ESRC and provides high quality training in research approaches and
methodologies.
The studentship will be based in the Centre for Complexity and Change, which is a leading
interdisciplinary research and teaching unit, with several thousand students at undergraduate
and masters levels. These studentships are supplemented with an additional award of GBP
1375 p.a. from the collaborating partner.
This project aims to assess how three organisations the Co-operative bank; Air BP and
Gloucestershire County Council have begun to implement a process of sustainable development
based on The Natural Step. The Natural Step is a science based, consensus process, which was
pioneered in Sweden through a programme of educational and learning activities with business,
local authorities and the general public. It is claimed that The Natural Step provides a framework
for decision-making and action towards a sustainable future which can be tailored to every level
of an organisation. This research programme will also assess how, and whether, the Natural
Steps four system conditions have been employed to embed sustainability at every level within
the organisation. The research would attempt to elucidate the conditions which would have to be
satisfied for the claims of embedding sustainability to be agreed amongst the key stakeholders.
It will also explore how personal behaviour and values contribute to action and change within
the organisations and the extent to which the interrelationship between organization (those
processes which constitute and conserve a particular organisation) and structure (the ways in
which a particular organisation is realised) enhance or constrain the emergence of new actions
which might be judged to be a move towards sustainable development.
It is anticipated that the research will provide a critical appraisal of The Natural Step process and
elucidate the processes and structures that constrain or enhance particular organisations moving
in a direction that is claimed to be sustainable. The nature of the judgements on which claims for
becoming more sustainable are based will also be elucidated.
The Natural Step (TNS) (UK) was set up under licence in 1997 by Forum for the Future a
solutions-oriented sustainable development charity established by Jonathan Porrit, Sara Parkin
and Paul Ekins. The main academic supervisor of the research will be Professor Ray Ison,
Profesor of Systems at The Open University. Dr Stephen Martin, Director of Learning in The
Natural Step (UK) Ltd, will be the CASE partner supervisor for the research.
For further information contact:
Prof. Ray Ison
Systems Discipline
Centre for Complexity and Change
The Open University
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA.
Tel: 01908-652918
Fax: 01908 652175
Email: [log in to unmask]
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