SDG Essay Competition Winner 2024-25
Adam Smith Business School postgraduate taught student wins first prize in the prestigious PRME UK and Ireland Responsible Business and Management student writing competition.
RESPONSIBLE AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
Driving positive change
Adam Smith Business School is committed to promoting responsible and sustainable management through our teaching, research and practice.
Building on the legacy of Adam Smith, our values of being enlightened, engaged and entrepreneurial drive our commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).
We invest in Sustainable Innovation to contribute to solutions for a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable future. We promote Research and Expertise that contributes to cutting-edge thinking on responsible and sustainable management and Celebrate Community through our service and external engagement. We practice Responsible Governance to ensure accountability and transparency in decision-making and deploy a Strategic Use of Resources to reach sustainable future.
Key awards and rankings
- PRME Communicating Signatory
- 19th in the world (QS World University Rankings: Sustainability, 2025)
- 12th in the world (Times Higher Education World Impact Rankings, 2024)
- Positive Impact Rating – Level 3 Progressing School (June 2025)
Principles of Responsible Management Education
In 2020 the Business School became a communicating signatory of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) and reports yearly on the Seven Principles: Purpose, Values, Teach, Research, Partner, Practice and Share.
By joining PRME, the School has made a powerful commitment to advancing values, such as sustainability, responsibility and ethics in teaching, research and thought leadership. We join over 700 leading business and management schools from more than 90 countries, dedicated to advancing these core values, while working to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Barefoot in Business
Since 2020, the Adam Smith Business School has sponsored Barefoot in Business. Undergraduate students from the School have worked with primary schoolgirls aged 11-12 in two Glasgow primary schools from disadvantaged areas on a pupil led workshop to design a brand and marketing strategy and awareness generating campaign. Our student volunteers attend the primary schools to deliver the workshop materials over an 8-week period before their business idea is brought to life on the university campus in the form of a pop-up shop where they sell the Ugandan made tote bags based on their own pricing and business strategy. Barefoot in Business plan to collaborate with Enactus, a student society to host future bake sales alongside the pupil’s popup shops.
All profits from the bags sold are divided equally between the schools and Ugandan Tailors and reinvested to partly fund the initiative in the next school year.
Twenty-two students in total from the School and over 120 students from the primary schools have participated in the programme since starting in 2020. The school now sponsors the primary schools to take part, and they keep the money from the sales to put back into the classroom and use towards a sustainability project.
Beach clean up
Since 2022, a group of students from the MSc Environment and Sustainable Development programme have taken part in a beach clean-up at Seafield Beach, Kirkcaldy, in September as part of their induction programme. This is part of a UK wide initiative by the Marine Conservation Society. Combined with the clean-up, students learn more about the life of Adam Smith as they tour around his hometown. Some statistics from the Great British Beach Clean-up 2024:
- 24 Business School students volunteered in the 2024 programme
- 13 bags were filled
- 520 items collected
- plastic items recovered made up over 50%
- the public contributed to 32% of collected pollution
- drinks litter featured in the top five of every UK country with plastic bottles found at 95% of the cleans.
Clothing drives
Inspired by International Women’s Day in March 2024, the Responsible Sustainable Management Committee set out help empower local women. They partnered with two Glasgow women’s charities, Dress for Success and Smartworks, who both have similar ambitions to help women get back into work and achieve financial independence, starting with their initial interview outfit. The team successfully held their first clothing drive in September 2024 where 1170L of women’s workwear was donated and evenly distributed between the two charities.
Following our donations, Smartworks said: September, we had our busiest month on record which included over 200 appointments, this includes:
- 73 career coaching appointments
- 97 interview prep and dressing appointments
- 30 follow up dressings after successful interviews.
Podcasts
Eco-nomics Unscripted
A podcast where sustainability meets business, economics, and the environment. Hosted by students, grounded in real-world insights, and inspired by the belief that the next generation can and must work across disciplines to shape a better world.
Episode 1: Lessons from the Global South on Tackling the Climate Crisis
In this episode, we ask a vital question: What lessons can the Global South offer the Global North in addressing the climate emergency?
Too often, climate debates are dominated by voices from the Global North. Yet communities across the Global South have lived on the frontlines of this crisis for decades, adapting, innovating, and building resilience through local knowledge and community action.
To unpack these lessons, Ritwij speaks with Mr Erik Solheim, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and former Environment Minister of Norway, who shares insights on:
- How the Global South’s experiences can inform climate policies in the North
- The importance of indigenous and local knowledge in climate action
- Examples of successful adaptation and resilience strategies from Indonesia and Bangladesh
- Why collaboration and inclusion are key to bridging global divides
Episode 2: How Finance Can Drive Climate Action in the Global South
In this episode of Eco-nomics Unscripted, we explore how finance can be a powerful force for climate action, especially in the Global South, where development and sustainability must go hand in hand.
Our guest, Subhash Chandra Garg, former Finance Secretary of India and Executive Director at the World Bank, joins Ritwij Raj from the Adam Smith Business School’s Responsible and Sustainable Management Steering Group to discuss how countries can mobilise funds for a greener future.
News and events
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22 Aug
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06 Jan
23 January. Driving Sustainability at the University of Glasgow
23 January. Join us for an event celebrating the efforts of our staff and students in enhancing sustainability at the University of Glasgow.