IFLAS public lecture series - Autumn 2014

IFLAS has announced its guest speakers for the autumn series of public lectures at the University of Cumbria's Ambleside campus.

We've assembled another great selection of speakers covering a wide range of topics - from success in social enterprise to the challenges of climate change an radical thinking on finance.

To book a place at any of these talks, email iflas@cumbria.ac.uk

Leadership lessons from Tango - it's not about the steps
Sue Cox and Dr. Jem Bendell - Monday September 1, 5.45pm to 8pm

This participative session draws on principles from Argentine Tango to explore an approach to leading that is purposeful, balanced and connected. An experienced development trainer and coach, Sue Cox works with leaders and teams. Her second passion, tango, led her to Buenos Aires to study the dance which she now also teaches. Great dance demands skilful leading and following. In this session, joined by Professor Jem Bendell (IFLAS Founder), Sue will share these core skills and draw insights for leadership practice. The session requires no prior knowledge of dance, simply the ability to move freely and a willingness to participate. You will be joined by participants in the Postgraduate Certificate of Sustainable Leadership. Places are limited to a maximum of 24 participants, so register early.

From Political to Enterprise Leadership: What Works?
Laura Willoughby MBE, founder of Club Soda - Tuesday October 7, 5.45pm to 7.30pm

An experienced public sector leader, politician, and campaigner, Laura Willoughby received her MBE aged 30 for her service to London and equality. She was a councillor in London and CEO of the Move Your Money campaign. Laura will explain how she has become a social entrepreneur to scale behaviour change for health and wellbeing, delivering a service on line to consumers and aiming to mobilise customers as a supportive and powerful community. She is founder of Club Soda, which helps people to change their drinking, through apps that track progress and nudge people in the right direction.

Positively Deviant Leadership in Finance
Dr Raj Thamotheram, President Emeritus of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets - Tuesday October 21, 5.45pm to 7.30pm

Dr Raj Thamotheram is a thought-leader in the field of long-term, sustainable investing. He led the Responsible Investment team at Universities Superannuation Scheme and AXA Investment Managers. He launched the Institutional Investor Group for Climate Change and Enhanced Analytics Initiative. Previously he was director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. He is now CEO of Preventable Surprises, an independent adviser on “investing as if the long-term matters” and a columnist for Investment & Pensions Europe (IPE). His talk will explore why positively deviant leadership is needed with London’s financial district, how it is happening and what can deepen this trend. Followed by a drinks and buffet reception.

Burning Questions for Leaders: The Climate
Mike Berners-Lee, author and consultant on climate change - Tuesday November 4, 5.45pm to 7.30pm

Mike Berners-Lee will explore the big picture on climate change and ask what we have not understood about the nature of the problem. Why is it that emissions have continued to rise exactly as if humankind had never noticed climate change? Why haven’t efficiency, green technology and carbon targets helped so far? In the light of this, what blend of politics, technology, psychology, sociology, economics, art and science could be more successful? What would effective leadership look like and where can it come from? What can any of us do in response to such a macro challenge?

Leading Alliances for Girls
Dr. Rebecca Calder, technical director of the SPRING Initiative - Tuesday November 18, 5.45pm to 7.30pm

Dr Rebecca Calder is a thought leader and expert on the empowerment of adolescent girls. Her analysis underpinned the design of the SPRING Initiative which is a five-year UK Department for International Development, Nike Foundation and USAID funded programme that aims to stimulate innovation and investment in new and adapted products and delivery mechanisms for girls in up to 8 countries. To achieve this, the initiative will support the development of sustainable and scalable business models for products contributing to girls’ economic empowerment – and reaching them directly. In this talk Dr Calder will discuss why alliances are so important for adolescent girls' empowerment, and why empowering adolescent girls is so important for the challenges facing the developing world today. Dr. Calder has over twenty years’ of experience as a gender and social exclusion specialist, and has worked in Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with multilateral, bilateral, civil society, and private sector partners, as well as for academic institutions. She is highly respected as an international authority and her ongoing research into the inclusion and empowerment of adolescent girls continues to be on the cutting edge of gender-based development research.

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