Sustainability is one of the major issues in the business world that companies will have to deal with in a very concrete way in the future. Even at a superficial glance, the topic of sustainability brings an enormous variety of different aspects with it, which in themselves open up wide fields of research. With this in mind we are pleased to welcome with WiSo Dean Ulrich Thonemann Jun.-Prof. Dr Navya Pandit as a new member to our faculty from the beginning of october.
Jun.-Prof. Dr Pandit is an international researcher with multidisciplinary experience. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in biosciences with a specialisation in plant biotechnology from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning in India. She expanded this knowledge with another Master’s degree in environmental studies from Dalhousie University in Canada in 2017. In 2023 she completed her Ph.D. in Business Administration and Management at Bocconi University in Italy with the thesis: "Agents for social change? Studying the role of organisational actors in the quest for corporate sustainability."
It is already clear how Navya Pandit manages to productively focus the multidisciplinary view that also shapes her research focus, as she puts it: "My research focuses on understanding how companies respond to the call for environmental and social sustainability. Specifically, I investigate the strategic choices and decisions companies make as part of their response to the growing environmental and social challenges that we face as a society. More generally, I am interested in how companies design and roll-out strategies in alignment with their multiple goals."
Last but not least, Navya Pandit has already earned several merits in research areas such as corporate sustainability, strategy, governance and organisational goals and she also "thinks outside of the box” academically. One example is the research article "Studying modular design: An interview with Professor Carliss Y. Baldwin", published in the Journal of Organizational Design.
We are delighted to have such an outstanding young researcher on board, whose experience and perspective will make a significant contribution to the implementation of our guiding principles, as expressed in our motto "Today's Ideas. Tomorrow's Impact".
A warm welcome to Jun.-Prof. Dr Navya Pandit!