Institute for Responsible Business and Social Justice

We bring together the leading international research strengths and researchers across Leicester Castle Business School in the Faculty of Business and Law.

The world is changing rapidly bringing complex challenges that need collective and rapid responses. The Institute for Responsible Business and Social Justice aims to provide the leadership and cultural change to support businesses and stakeholders in tackling these challenges. Our research will help organisations drive sustainable growth that not only benefits the business, but its staff, local communities and wider society.

The proposition to provide the leadership and cultural change needed to redefine businesses and stakeholders for a sustainable future, places people at the heart of change, and works towards an equitable, sustainable and inclusive society.

Our strategic vision is to empower organisations by being inclusive, building business voice and transformation, and supporting place-based interventions to help businesses realise their full potential.
Our role as a United Nations’ global hub chair for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 11 reflects our commitment to building Sustainable Cities and Communities, as a basis for lasting change.
Our approach is to build partnerships with purpose, and to build and learn from collaborations between organisations that inspire change, add value and create synergy with communities.鈥�

Component Hubs

Our programme of work

We develop people who can analyse complex problems, devise active solutions, and have the ability to work with others to solve at speed. Our leadership approach is underpinned by our core values to build for a more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive society. We engage with global and national stakeholders, communities of civic and business leaders, policymakers, researchers and innovators and our international partners to conduct impactful projects and studies, across Britain and globally, in Europe, Africa, and Southern Asia.

Economic Growth and Productivity

Our research teams are working on sector growth plans, post-covid recovery, and innovation in advanced and high-growth industries. We specialise in creative business scale-up and innovation, artificial intelligence, banking and finance, and inclusive entrepreneurship, and have emerging expertise in advanced manufacturing and green innovation. We supported the development of Leicestershire鈥檚 MIT REAP innovation strategy. We recognise the growing importance of AI in all aspects of our society and the way it is transforming research across a range of business disciplines. We are working closely with engineers, with national leaders such as the Turing Institute, and with business to advance world-class research on AI in business, and to understand the evolving applications and implications for business and society.
Responsible Business Practice

We work closely with industry to build responsible business practice, and to develop new business models, underpinned with social equity through supply chains. We have worked closely with Leicester鈥檚 Textiles industry to build ethical standards and new models of technology-driven growth, and have established expertise in forensic accounting, HRM, industrial corruption, and corporate social responsibility.
Social Value

We work with diverse stakeholders to ensure our research has a truly, transformative effect on people鈥檚 lives, their wellbeing, and in driving business change. We work closely with local government, with third sector organisations, and with regional and sector groups, to ensure that our research and insights are translated into practical and policy actions that have impact. We work to develop alternative regional intelligence systems, have supported work on tackling low pay and youth unemployment, debt and place prosperity, and have worked to drive initiatives as part of the Leicestershire Civic University Agreement.
The Grand Challenges

We recognise the importance of tackling Grand Challenges. We have teams specialising in: Climate Action; Transport and Mobility especially aviation; Food Security, working closely with food manufacturing and regional agri-food sectors to drive sustainability; and Health and Wellbeing including work on growing regional digital health sectors.

Businesses need to operate in a way that benefits society. Responsible growth with sound organisational practices and achievable sustainability is the only way to generate value and impact over time.

Professor Rachel Granger - Research and Innovation Director (Institute for Responsible Business)

Research in the spotlight

Lawyer who helped overturn conviction based on music taste gives annual Stephen Lawrence lecture at 黑料网

The "unfair" use of music taste to help convict people in court has been explored in this year's annual Stephen Lawrence Research Centre Annual Lecture.

9 May 2025

黑料网 film expert's mission to honour fallen WWII soldiers by screening rare documentary

An expert in film collaboration at 黑料网 (黑料网) Leicester has helped a rare 'enthralling' World War II documentary reach audiences across the UK.

9 May 2025

Home washing machines fail to remove important pathogens from textiles

Findings suggest that many home washing machines may not be up to the job of properly decontaminating healthcare worker uniforms

1 May 2025

Ambitious research project sees communities shape research to solve real-life problems

Backed by Research England's Development Fund, the project will fund 27 new PhD studentships in Leicestershire alone, all focused on research that will make a positive difference to people's lives

1 May 2025

Research Areas

The Institute for Responsible Business supports a diverse range of disciplinary areas forming a dynamic research community.

The People, Organisation and Work cluster undertakes research in areas straddling Human Resource Management, Employment Relations and the Labour Process. Specialisms include AI, automation and the future of work; job quality and low wage work; trade unions and employment relations; worker voice; workplace deviance and stress; workplace bullying; leadership and management; decent work; welfare-to-work and employability programmes; and the complex links between skills and 鈥榩erformance鈥�. We aim to conduct impactful research of social value in the Global North and Global South, and at national, regional or local scales, by engaging with private and public sector organisations, the third sector, trade unions and policymakers.

The IAESV has expertise in development economics, environmental economics, international trade and behavioural economics. Recent externally funded projects have studied the informal economy in Nigeria, trends in international trade, and the resilience of agricultural trading networks in rural Vietnam. The group also plays an active role in the regional economy; a recent project, in collaboration with Leicester City Council, has informed on debt advice and poverty, while another project, in collaboration with local charities, has enabled community engagement in economic policy discussion. The group has a regular series of research seminars, as well as research and engagement workshops.

The centre has 50 members and includes research clusters for African Entrepreneurship, Innovative Logistics & Supply-chain Management, Consumer Marketing and Strategy, Innovation & International Business. Each of these hosts Postgraduate Research students (PhD and DBA) and research projects of international significance. Significant areas of expertise include Inclusive and Intercultural entrepreneurship; migrant female entrepreneurs; entrepreneurial collective intelligence; sustainable value chains; and the East Midlands Top 500 Companies index.

Join our community of individual thinkers who are re-writing the rules. Engage with our Doctoral College where research students are nurtured and recognised by scholars and research leaders.

Find your research community

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