Sustainability and Responsibility

The Ashridge MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility is a two year part-time Masters programme based on a series of eight intensive residential workshops, each of five days’ duration. Six workshops are based at Ashridge and two are usually offsite.

The MSc programme directors are embedded in an extensive community of practice developed in Sustainability education and practice over the past 15 years. Gill Coleman, Chris Seeley and Tim Malnick were all involved in the New Academy of Business founded by Anita Roddick and were part of the team running the MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice at Bath. Chris Nichols has taught with Gill, Chris and Tim while also leading the Strategy Engagement practice at Ashridge.

The MSc is further connected into a community of practitioners, both within and beyond Ashridge, with more than 250 members who have studied these topics and learned together, and who now operate a very active global network with leading roles in business, the public sector, academia and NGOs.

*This programme is subject to changes and to final academic approval.

What can I expect from the AMSR?

The MSc is a demanding modular programme aimed at participants with significant work experience rather than for recent graduates. Participants will normally hold a first degree or equivalent. In exceptional circumstances, applicants with significant professional experience and no undergraduate degree will also be considered. The programme is anchored in practice and you will be expected to reflect on and explore your own organisational, community or professional activities between workshops. You will therefore need to demonstrate that you can provide a setting in which such explorations can take place. Appropriate TOEFL/IELTS scores are required for those whose first language is not English.

Typically there are 24 students on the programme.

Why Action Research?

Action Research incorporates a wide range of practices and ideas with a strong pedigree in the fields of organisational change and community development. Action Research invites you to develop a discipline of thinking, personal reflection and testing ideas through action experiments. This course draws on this highly participative approach to learning and requires systematic engagement and collaboration at personal and professional levels.

Programme Modules

Module 1: Sustainability & responsibility – scenarios and challenges

Module 2: Sustainability & responsibility – revisioning value and economics

Module 3: Sustainability & responsibility – ecology and living systems

Module 4: Sustainability & responsibility – sustainable design and development [in association with InterfaceRaise]

Module 5: Sustainability & responsibility – the nature of work

Module 6: Sustainability & responsibility – responsible organisations

Module 7: Sustainability & responsibility – human rights, development and social justice

Module 8: Sustainability & responsibility – the business of the future

Module 1: Sustainability & responsibility – scenarios and challenges

This workshop introduces the broad scope of the programme offering an overview of key global challenges including – environmental, social justice & development and economic. The interconnections and relationships between these areas are explored as well as potential implications for participants’ own organisations and professional practice.

Module 2: Sustainability & responsibility – revisioning value and economics

This workshop builds on the questions raised in workshop 1 by specifically asking how economic, environmental and social activities and impacts should be valued. Current approaches to new, environmental and ecological economics are introduced as a basis for in depth discussion on the most suitable indicators and measurements for today’s economies. The role of complementary monetary systems and parallel currencies is also explored, as is the nature of money itself.

Module 3: Sustainability & responsibility – ecology and living systems

This workshop explores our relationship with the world around us through deep experience of nature and leading edge scientific thinking on the properties of living systems. This workshop introduces Gaia theory (earth system science), complexity theory and deep ecology and invites participants to make links back to their own organisations and practice.

Module 4: Sustainability & responsibility – sustainable design and development [in association with InterfaceRaise]

This workshop introduces leading edge thinking and practice on sustainable design and development within business and organisations. Following workshop 3 we investigate innovations and developments that seek to operationalise concepts and principles of sustainability in everyday business.

Module 5: Sustainability & responsibility – the nature of work

This workshop looks in depth at the nature of work and how the context of work is changing in response to global challenges. We consider what worthwhile work is – in personal terms and for our organisations – and asks what are appropriate responses to the issues raised by the programme so far. The workshop introduces best practice and innovation in organisational models, working practices and redefinitions of work.

Module 6: Sustainability & responsibility – responsible organisations

This workshop addresses the new identities and roles of today’s organisations as they respond to the demands of multiple stakeholders. It will include questions of branding, supply chain management and other areas of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The module will also involve a robust critique of the concept and practice of CSR.

Module 7: Sustainability & responsibility – human rights, development and social justice

This workshop considers the impacts of mainstream business practice from the perspective of marginalised and often silenced communities in the world. It addresses topics such as power and oppression, race and gender, and explores how current business practices can be informed by these and related narratives, theories and practices.

Module 8: Sustainability & responsibility – the business of the future

This workshop invites participants to review their learning on the programme, share their projects and developing practice with each other and consider possible scenarios and visions for a sustainable and responsible future. It serves as a foundation and springboard into a new level of leadership and change agency, working with these issues in the world.