Dr Helen Wadham
Reader in Sustainability
Doctoral College Faculty Head (Business & Law), research into collaboration across species, sectors & communities
My profile
Biography
Helen is a Reader in Sustainability and Doctoral College Faculty Head (Business and Law).
With a practitioner background in cross-sector partnership in the UK and Latin America, she has a longstanding interest in collaboration across species, sectors and communities that informs both her research and teaching. She writes alongside her students and has won multiple awards for her innovative pedagogy.
Helen is a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, a member of the Academy of Business and Society (ABIS) and a member of the European Group for Organisational Studies (EGOS).
Interests and expertise
Collaboration across species, sectors and communities. Human-animal relations in the context of sustainability. Informal organising. Alternative housing. cross-sector collaboration. Education for sustainable development.
Projects
Current research projects include “Racehorses in transition,” funded by BA/Leverhulme Trust, which explores how retired racehorses move into new work and home lives post-racing. Other recent projects include hosting an international seminar series on “interspecies decent work” (funded by The Sociological Review) and co-developing a network of scholars focused on interspecies relations in leisure, sport and tourism in Latin America (funded by the Maureen Harrington Fund for Promoting Leisure Studies).
Teaching
I have taught for 15+ years across all levels, with a focus on sustainability and research methods.
I am interested in supervising PhDs that focus on my key areas of research interest, namely organisational aspects of human-animal relations, collaboration across species, sectors and communities, informal organising, cross-sector collaboration, alternative housing. Current PhD students are:
Kerry Moakes - “Interspecies care work in theory/practice: From shared marginalisation to mutual flourishing”
Debbie Busby - “The good life: Extending theories of care to enhance interspecies wellbeing in the equestrian community”
Research outputs
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Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Wadham, H., Caffall, C. (2010) Doing Good Business in Africa. Geneva, Switzerland: Africa Progress Panel.
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Chapters in books
Wadham, H. 'Extended Case Method.' Sage Encyclopedia of Research Methods.
Wadham, H., Hart, C., Hashmi, A., Kettleborough, H.M., Marron, R., Randles, S., Skritsovali, K., Tucker, M. (2023) 'Sustainability education beyond the classroom: how the “exploding university” nurtures collective intelligence across local and global communities.' In Meletiadou, E. (ed.) Handbook of Research on Implications of Sustainable Development in Higher Education. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, pp. 202-229.
Randles, S., Wadham, H., Skritsovali, K., Hart, C., Hoque, S., Kettleborough, H., Klapper, R., Marron, R., Taylor, D., Walley, L. (2023) 'Transformative learning, community and leadership for sustainability action.' In Purcell, W.M., Haddock-Fraser, J. (ed.) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education: an agenda for transformational change. Bloomsbury, pp. 87-108.
Wadham, H., Wilkinson, M. (2008) 'Achilles Collaborative Industry Approaches to Supply Chain Corporate Responsibility.' Embedding Human Rights in Business Practice. New York, USA: Global Compact,
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Journal articles
Monterrubio, C., Dashper, K., Wadham, H. (2024) 'Contested intangible heritage: equestrian sport and animal welfare in Mexico.' International Journal of Heritage Studies, 30(3) pp. 332-348.
Wadham, H., Schuurman, N., Dashper, K. (2024) 'Editors' introduction to the special issue “Privilege, vulnerability and care: Interspecies dynamics in rural landscapes”.' Sociologia Ruralis,
Wadham, H., Wallace, C., Furtado, T. (2023) 'Agents of sustainability: How horses and people co-create, enact and embed the good life in rural places.' Sociologia Ruralis,
Wilson, A., Wadham, H. (2023) '(Tiny) spaces of hope: reclaiming, maintaining, and reframing housing in the tiny house movement.' Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 41(2) pp. 330-350.
Randles, S., Dewick, P., Hannan, E., Nicholson, D.T., Rietbergen, M., Taylor, C., Vargas, V., Wadham, H., Withycombe Keeler, L. (2022) 'Applying Enquiry and Problem Based earning to Mission-oriented Innovation Policy: From Policy to Pedagogy to Teaching and Learning Practice.' Journal of International Education in Business, 15(1) pp. 52-73.
Wadham, H. (2021) 'Agency as Interspecies, Collective and Embedded Endeavour: Ponies and People in Northern England 1916–1950.' Journal of Historical Sociology, 34(4) pp. 550-572.
Wadham, H. (2021) 'Book review: Nightingales in Berlin: Searching for the Perfect Sound.' Emotion, Space and Society, 39pp. 100789-100789.
Wadham, H. (2020) 'Relations of power & nonhuman agency: Critical Theory, Clever Hans, & other stories of horses & humans.' Sociological Perspectives, 64(1) pp. 109-126.
Wadham, H. (2020) 'Horse matters: re-examining sustainability through human-domestic animal relationships.' Sociologia Ruralis, 60(3) pp. 530-550.
Wadham, H., Urquhart, C., Warren, R. (2019) 'Living with paradox in sustainable development: An extended case study of an international NGO.' European Journal of Development Research, 31pp. 1263-1286.
Wadham, H., Warren, R.C. (2013) 'Telling organizational tales: the extended case method in practice.' Organizational Research Methods, 17(1) pp. 5-22.
Wadham, H., Warren, R. (2013) 'Inspiring action, building understanding: how cross-sector partnership engages business in addressing global challenges.' BUSINESS ETHICS-A EUROPEAN REVIEW, 22(1) pp. 47-63.
Wadham, H. (2009) 'Talking Across Boundaries: Business and NGO Perspectives on CSR, Sustainable Development and Partnership.' Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 34pp. 57-68.
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Conference papers
Wadham, H., Williams, I. (2009) 'Habermas and The Hay Festival, The Role of Dialogue in Facilitating Alternative Models of Business and Development.' In Annual Colloquium of the European Academy of Business in Society (EABIS). IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain, 9/9/2009 - 9/9/2009.
Wadham, H. (2007) 'Business/NGO Partnerships and the CSR Agenda: A Critical Review of the Literature.' In British Academy of Management CSR Special Interest Group. University of York, York, UK, 12/4/2007 - 12/4/2007.
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Posters
Wadham, H., Monterrubio, C., Dashper, K. (2023) 'Interspecies perspectives on decent work: inequalities and new solidarities in work between people and equids (part of The Sociological Review Seminar Series 2023).' [Poster] In Online. Date viewed 24/5/2023.