PRME Chapter UK and Ireland
Responsible Business and Management Student Writing Competition 2023/24
8th Annual Competition
Announcement of Prize-Winners
30 April 2024
The PRME Chapter UK and Ireland and Oxford Brookes University are honoured to announce the winners of the 8th Responsible Business and Management Student Writing Competition. Announcing the 2024 results, Dr Jonathan Louw, Oxford Brookes competition organiser, has welcomed “another year of fine student research and writing in pursuit of deepening insights into sustainability, responsibility and ethical decision making across a wide spectrum of organisations”. The Chapter also extends its congratulations to the many committed PRME colleagues who have helped instigate and shape the high quality of work received. The competition has always been a good way to connect students to the PRME community, while also being one of the many tangible benefits to members of being PRME signatories. The organisers would additionally like to acknowledge the ten judges from nine different universities (listed below), whose tireless, voluntary work has made today’s announcement possible. Chapter Chair, Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, has also expressed her “congratulations not just to the top three winners in each category but also the named finalists and all the students who invested time and effort in submitting entries in what turned out to be a very competitive year”. Given the strong competition in the UG category, Oxford Brookes was also honoured to see for the first time its own students recognised amongst the winners in this category.
Indeed the first prize in the Undergraduate essay category is awarded to Abigail Setterfield of Oxford Brookes University. Co-Chairs of the UG Panel, Dr Rod Bain and Dr Mohamed Saeudy, praised her “fine command of relevant literature, excellent primary data generation and critical insights” in her investigation of how gendered pricing of personal care products affects the purchase intentions of Gen Z consumers. The second prize is won by Niamh Hooker (also of Oxford Brookes University) who explored the attitudes of UK Generation Z consumers towards a Pink Tax within the personal care industry. The third prize goes to Hebe Baik (Durham University) whose work sought to chart a new economic vision for corporate responsibility and sustainability.
In the Postgraduate essay category the judging panel have reported another year of excellent diversity in the topics covered, ranging across issues including climate leadership, the impact of AI on SDG attainment, logistics and the circular economy. The winner of the first prize in the postgraduate category is, for the second year in a row, Mary Morrison of the University of Sussex. Commenting on Mary’s remarkable achievement, Dr Jo Feehily, PG Panel Chair, highlighted her “artful and visionary integration of multiple perspectives on a key sustainability challenge” while considering the question, “Strawberries for Christmas Dinner, 2050: What can we learn from the implications of net zero policies for the freighting of perishables?” Second prize winner in this category is Ziting Huang (University of the Arts London) for a critical evaluation of and recommendations for enhancing the luxury brand Chanel's circular economy communication strategy. The third prize is awarded to Gloria Forson (Maynooth University) for her exploration of top-down and bottom-up approaches to transformation towards SDG actualisation.
In the category of Alternative Media (AM), the Universities of Birmingham and Westminster have put in a strong performance this year. The first prize-winner is Avani Gill (University of Birmingham) who produced a video with the title, ‘Dining with Purpose: Analysing Responsible Eating Out Practices’. Dr Amir Keshtiban, Chair of the AM Panel, commended the work’s “visual appeal, clear delivery and clarity of critical argumentation”. Sharing second place with separate entries were Jasmin Lubbers and Drilena Ukperaj (both of the University of Westminster) who presented sustainable city poster evaluations for Cape Town and Istanbul respectively. Receiving the third prize is Ellie Hand (University Birmingham) for her video-based examination of the social practices associated with online food ordering.
Further information
This 8th competition received 104 entries from the 20 institutions listed below. Any enquiries about the results can be directed to Dr Jonathan Louw at prme@brookes.ac.uk
Prize-winners’ and finalists’ work will be published on the Chapter website in due course. Prize-winners and finalists will be contacted individually about their prizes and/or certificates. Please copy any local publicity about the prize-winners to the Chapter’s Linkedin page and Twitter feed: @PRME_UKI. For more information about the PRME Chapter UK and Ireland see: https://www.unprme.org.uk/
Full Prize-Winner and Finalist List
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Undergraduate Category
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First Prize (£500) Abigail Setterfield, Oxford Brookes University
Second Prize (£300) Niamh Hooker, Oxford Brookes University
Third Prize (£100) Hebe Baik, Durham University
Other Undergraduate Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Amelia Cutler (University of Surrey), Rachel Dickinson (University of Birmingham), Rebecca Halsted (Durham University), Sean Hughes (Queen’s University Belfast), Edward Smith-Dunlop (University of St Andrews), Florence Wilson (Durham University), Yunfei Xu (Queen’s University Belfast).
Postgraduate Category
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First Prize (£500) Mary Morrison, University of Sussex
Second Prize (£300) Ziting Huang, University of the Arts London
Third Prize (£100) Gloria Forson,Maynooth University
Other Postgraduate Finalists (in alphabetical order)
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Alice Ferreri (University of the Arts London), Grace Harrison (Liverpool John Moores University), Tess Hazelhurst (Ulster University), Daisy Otter (University of Sussex)
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Alternative Media Category
First Prize (£500) Avani Gill, University of Birmingham.
Second Prize (£300–shared) Jasmin Lubbers and Drilena Ukperaj, University of Westminster
Third Prize (£100) Ellie Hand, University of Birmingham
Other Alternative Media Finalists (in alphabetical order)
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Rose Alexander (Queen’s University Belfast), Lucy Atkins (University of Birmingham), Daisy Flatters (Sheffield Hallam University), Katherine Maddock (University of Birmingham), Daphne Person (University of Birmingham), Virginia Saffin (University of Birmingham).
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Participating Institutions
Durham University
King's College London
Liverpool John Moores University
Maynooth University
Oxford Brookes University
Queen's University, Belfast
Sheffield Hallam University
Trinity College Dublin
Ulster University
University of the Arts London
University of Bedfordshire
University of Birmingham
University of Glasgow
University of Hertfordshire
University of Sunderland
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
University of Surrey
University of Sussex
University of Westminster
Prize-winners and finalists this year were drawn from 13 of the above institutions.
Judging Panels
The Chapter is most appreciative of the time and efforts of our volunteer judging panels. We are very grateful to the following individuals:
Dr Rod Bain University of Stirling (UG Panel 1 Chair)
Dr Jo Feehily Oxford Brookes University (PG Panel Chair)
Dr Amir Keshtiban York St John University (Alternative Media Panel Chair)
Dr Romas Malevicius King’s College London
Dr Stuart McClure Queen’s University Belfast
Dr Karen Neville University College Cork
Dr Mohamed Saeudy University of Bedfordshire (UG Panel 2 Chair)
Dr Laura Steele Queen’s University Belfast
Professor Peter Stokes Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University
Dr Keith Thomas Maynooth University
The UG, PG and AM panels work independently, reporting to the organisers at Oxford Brookes.
Links to the professional profiles of the panel members can be found here.
Anyone interested in joining a panel next year should contact Jonathan Louw (prme@brookes.ac.uk)
JL/OBU/30.4.24