Climate emergency: delivering global soil health
Professor John Crawford is the Science Director for the Global Soil Health Programme that brings together a consortium of multinational organisations to implement a global framework for the improvement of soil health and the sequestration of carbon in soils. The programme, driven by a strategic partnership between the University of Glasgow and the University of Sydney, aims to deliver soil health at scale in the next 10 years. This will be achieved through a country-by-country coordination by partnering with the UN Global Soil Partnership, connecting the demand and supply sides of the carbon markets across north and south hemispheres. The programme is generating a new and potentially significant supply of nature-based carbon offsets, whilst delivering significant co-benefits related to emissions reduction, biodiversity, and the security of water and food. Professor Denis Fischbacher-Smith is delivering a risk and resilience perspective and providing systems-based expertise to the programme.
Digital society: designing business models
Cluster members are active in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), a funding scheme that helps UK-based businesses innovate and grow. Dr Stephan von Delft is currently working with Professor Neil Hawkins (Institute of Health and Wellbeing) and Professor Karin Oien (Institute of Cancer Sciences) to assist a Glasgow-based research, development and services lab. The researchers are designing new business models for precision medicine and drug discovery technologies. Dr von Delft previously collaborated with a Scottish insurance broker to develop a new business model for the firm. Both projects received funding from Innovate UK. If you are interested in collaborating with our researchers, please contact our Connections with Practice Team for further information.
Related links
- Dr Stephan von Delft
- Connections with Practice Team
- Innovate UK KTP guidance
- Research paper: Business models in process industries: emerging trends and future research (2021)
- Research paper: The evolution of platform business models: exploring competitive battles in the world of platforms (2020)
- Research paper: Leveraging global sources of knowledge for business model innovation (2019)
Art and strategy
Strategic change is as much art as science and can be regarded as a form of social poetry. Professor Donald MacLean’s research focuses on deepening our understanding of how stories and storytelling have played, still play, and could play in organisational life. Specifically, the research explores the role of 21st Century, digitally-enabled storytelling in forming and transforming strategy and strategic behaviour. The research is highly experiential action-research and conducted with a range of partner organisations including a schools membership association in Australia, a UK government science body, public-sector partnerships and community groups.
Medical populism: the role of expertise and trust
The concept of medical populism has gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. It refers to a particular style in which politicians and elected officials without any formal training or expertise respond to health-related crises by contradicting the established expert views of the problem. Professor Denis Fischbacher-Smith has examined this issue through the management and measurement of uncertainty and the role of expertise within an environment of medical populism. His findings highlight concerns about the extent to which trust in state-based organisations and established expert judgement has been eroded over time. It builds on previous work dealing with the role of expertise within policy making around issues of radical uncertainty. In addition, Professor Fischbacher-Smith is also collaborating with colleagues outside of the university in an investigation of the perceptions that different groups hold about the hazards associated with the COVID vaccine.