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Presenting in Vancouver next week
Next week I’ll be presenting at the Mines and Communities conference at UBC in Vancouver. I have the much coveted last presentation of the day slot. My abstract reads thusly: In this paper I argue for a more political understanding of the intentions and impacts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending in the mining sector…
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Finding the business case for CSR
This post critiquing an article in Harvard Business Review article caught my attention recently. I’m catching up on old reading here but this article rehashes the perennial debate about ‘the business case for CSR’. The HBR article basically argues we’re asking too much of CSR if we’re asking it to make money: “There is increasing…
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I have a podcast!
A first! A few weeks back I gave the departmental seminar in my department as I’m coming to the end of my current research project (though the writing will continue for some time) and they recorded it and put it on Soundcloud. So, should you wish to hear my recent thoughts on mining and CSR,…
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I’ll be around for a while
Good news for fans of this blog everywhere: I’ll be doing this for a while! I’m sure you’ll both be delighted to hear that I have recently got myself a permanent position as Lecturer in International Development at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester! Despite this being basically what I’ve been doing…
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“An organization that maintains bad societal practices throughout the normal course of its activities is socially irresponsible, no matter what its philanthropic activities, sustainable development projects or socioeconomic development initiatives are”
A simple point, worth repeating. Sadly it is one missed by quite a few mining companies. Source
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Samarco tailings disaster: this changes everything?
The recent collapse of a tailings dam at the Samarco project in Brazil has caught widespread attention. It was clearly truly awful and exposed, in connection with the Mt Polley dam failure last year, a key weakness in the the mining sector’s efforts to clean up its act. A good source to read on this is…
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What I do with the rest of my time
Is lead the Uganda fieldwork with students. We made a video: Want more? There’s a longer version here.
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My (2010) PhD thesis is now available online
When I submitted it, there was the potential that some journals would treat copies online as having already published and therefore not accept my proposed articles. I thus set it to have a 5 year embargo. This passed a few weeks ago but I still can’t find it in the University of Manchester repository so, taking…
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My colleagues discussing the SDGs
And sounding very clever too. We’re kinda going big on the SDGs, more here.
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Nothing says ‘Indigenous Recognition’ like….
A massive ampitheatre! Apparently. “BHP Billiton Recognises Indigenous Culture Through Perth Stadium Community Precinct Partnership” I’m new to this story, can anyone explain this to me? Answers on a postcard or via the twitter please.