Newcastle, old and new
Sat, 01 Sep 2012 16:20:00 BST
June 2012
Two members of FEGReG attended the EBEN (European Business Ethics Network research conference at Newcastle University Business School, 7-9 June 2012.
For Richard Crossley, it was his first ever EBEN conference. Richard delivered a whirlwind tour of his progress to date on a major project entitled ‘Social and environmental disclosure of SMEs: an investigation into the driving forces of on-line disclosure’. It might have been a new forum for Richard to speak, but just across the road and visible from the conference venue in the Business School was the football ground traditionally known as St. James’ Park, home of Newcastle United and one of the nation’s great sporting arenas. Richard actually played there as a professional footballer back in the late 1980s. As he commented, ‘Never did I imagine I would be speaking at such a conference as I began playing professional football over 20 years ago…. It brought back some fond memories of playing at some of England’s most prestigious grounds – and today, I get to associate with leading academics at the forefront of research. Who said life couldn’t get any better?!’
One of the people Richard listened to at the conference was Professor Chris Cowton, Director of FEGReG. An EBEN veteran – he used to be Chair of EBEN-UK and presided over the main annual EBEN Conference at Cambridge in 2000 – Chris had for the second year running been invited to give a keynote address at the research conference. This year he reflected on empirical research methods in business ethics, revisiting themes that he has addressed in print in the past and assessing progress made in recent years. It is intended that a special issue of Business Ethics: A European Review (which Chris edits) on empirical methods will appear under the editorship of Professor David Campbell, one of the conference organisers.
