Sustainability, Business and Enterprise
Sustainability, Business and Enterprise is one of UCLan's strategic research priorities, supporting our ambitious objectives to achieve research excellence, knowledge exchange and impact.
Through our research we can drive business growth, champion enterprise and promote sustainability. This is achieved through collaborations of researchers and practitioners from different disciplines, and this enables strong conceptual frameworks to be developed. The research that we do supports the needs of business, the economy and the wider society. In particular, we are engaged in collaborative research involving human wellbeing, gender equality, sustainable cities and communities, production and consumption, risk management and business development.
Areas of Research Strength
Finance, Accounting and Banking
In the area of Finance, Accounting and Banking we can coordinate the research interests of academics and students in accountancy, finance, banking, business and management studies in both developed and developing countries. The main goals are to improve the understanding of challenges to inclusive and sustainable development and also to explore and develop viable practical solutions. We have a growing community of researchers who produce high quality international and world-leading research.
Applied Public Health
Research in applied public health covers elements of health protection and health promotion. This research also links with the UCLan Research Themes for Sustainability, Business and Enterprise and People, Place and Environment. It spans nutrition and food safety and the promotion of improved health and wellbeing.
Economics, Business and Society
Our research explores the impact of economic and business activity upon the wider society. This includes enhancing supply chain efficiency and the enhancement of business performance, alongside the evaluation of local economic development initiatives such as the ‘Preston Model’ of community wealth building, and the economic impact of Brexit.
Engineering
This research area covers a wide span of engineering applications and is driven by a mix of academics' thirst for knowledge and investigations within industry settings. We mix scientific and technological expertise that is focused on topics within Autonomy and Systems Integration, Digital Manufacturing, Intelligent Machines and Maintenance, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis, Clean Growth (including Waste Management) and Human Factors. We have contributed to and made many important developments from improving the safety and competitiveness of European aircraft through signal and image processing technology, improving radiation therapy planning and delivery, to the creation of a dynamic 3D facial scan for face-based health monitoring and a breakthrough discovery of an acoustic emission-based biomarker linked to knee ageing and degeneration.
Organisations, Work and Employment
Researchers in the area of Organisations, Work and Employment engage with stakeholders to help build a fair and equitable future of work. We are home to 'iROWE' (the Institute for Research into Organisations, Work and Employment). We produce high quality research and engage with organisations, trade unions, professional bodies and policymakers such as the TUC, ISBE, CIPD, ACAS, the RSA and Government. This helps us to inform the development of effective workplace practice and employment policy for SMEs and large organisations. Importantly, we align our research with the local and national Industrial Strategies.
Tourism, Hospitality and Events
Tourism, Hospitality and Events research has two broad areas. Firstly, the Institute for Transport and Tourism (ITT) undertakes applied research into transport and sustainability, and explores the relationship between tourism and sustainable development in the developed and developing worlds. Secondly, our research addresses the socio-cultural dimension of tourism and the tourist experience, most notably the phenomenon of dark tourism with work led by the internationally recognised Institute for Dark Tourism Research (iDTR).