Prof. Stephen Hardy - Dean of the Faculty of Business, Law & Politics
Dear delegates
We are delighted to welcome all delegates of the 8th Annual Conference of the UK and Ireland PRME Regional Chapter to the University of Hull. Our University is the fourteenth oldest UK University. Given its Royal Charter in 1927, as a University it vowed to be an anchor institution for its region. Therefore, since its inception the University has been sighted on its mission to shape its place, support its local community and meet the social, economic, health and cultural needs of our region. We are also very aware of our role and responsibility to deliver global impact, as captured in our 2030 Vision: ‘motivated by society’s challenges and inspired by the power of our global community, we are shaping a fairer, brighter and carbon neutral future’.
The University of Hull was recently named in the world’s top 100 in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings for its institutional commitment to the UN’s SDGs. We have also made an ambitious commitment to be carbon neutral by 2027 which sets our centenary as a target date and reaffirms our commitment to contribute towards the urgent action needed to reverse global heating and the climate crisis. As a University and Faculty, we strive to work with strategic partners to identify and deliver the high-level skills required to stimulate inclusive and clean growth. We deliver this through our research and development, consultancy and with ‘filling the skills gaps’ through our provision of highly trained graduates as a workforce in all key areas of business and public life.
To help achieve this, we have developed an ambitious Strategy 2030, which has at its heart the two themes of Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice, and is underpinned by our three pillars of People, Place and Partnership. Therefore, the University’s Strategy is clearly aligned with the UN's Decade of Action and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. But this transformation journey will not be without its challenges, nor will we shy away from the difficult questions on what this means for our programmes, students and research. Consequently, together with the UK & Ireland PRME Chapter, we are proud to help steer these debates with this Conference’s three themes on ‘Transforming Programmes for Action’, ‘Students as Agents of Transformation’, and ‘Business and Systems’ Transformation’.
To that end, since this Conference was announced, however, the world has also seen another sudden transformation, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its ripples that will continue to change our social, political and economic landscapes. We could not ignore such developments in a conference focused on Responsible Management Education, so we have added a new Plenary Session on ‘Business for Peace’, where we invite all delegates to discuss and share the insights of our distinguished guest speakers. We trust you will enjoy your Conference and your time with us.
A very warm welcome to Hull!