PRME Working Group on Responsible Work and Purposeful Careers

History

The Working Group builds upon the success of the regional Careers and Sustainability Working Group, established in 2023 under the PRME Chapter UK and Ireland to aid the growing interest in the intersection of work on sustainability, careers, employability and the rapidly evolving green jobs sector. This UK and Ireland group has seen momentum build across events and research projects and currently has nearly 200 mailing list members. The Working Group also builds on the research, teaching and community engagement interests of its founding members in India and the UK. Recognising the global relevance of purposeful careers and the evolving needs of values-oriented workplaces, founding members came together to expand this initiative into a global PRME Working Group.

Purpose

The Working Group addresses the critical intersection between organisational values and employee aspirations. Organisations increasingly emphasise fairness, ethical behaviour, sustainability, stakeholder accountability, and social and environmental impact. Simultaneously, employees—especially Generation Z—prioritise socially and environmentally purposeful work and employers who genuinely commit to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The central challenge is understanding evolving workplace needs and creating recognisable pathways toward purposeful, ethical, and responsible careers for university graduates. The Working Group welcomes diverse participation from employers, students, academics from multiple disciplines, and university professional services teams, all united by shared interests in graduate career ambitions and critical engagement with employer priorities practices for attracting and retaining a values-oriented workforce.

Goals

The PRME Working Group on Responsible Work and Purposeful Careers aims to build an impactful community that advances responsible workplaces and career development globally.

The following goals outline the group's strategic focus:

• Knowledge Exchange and Dialogue: Host regular webinars and events to showcase innovative projects and facilitate meaningful dialogue on responsible workplaces and purposeful careers.

• Collaborative Research and Tangible Outputs: Instigate collaborative research and pedagogical projects that produce tangible outputs, including publishable research papers, teaching resources, book chapters, case studies, reflective exercises on Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability (ERS), cross-cultural immersion/outreach programs and student publications

• Capacity Building and Training: Provide diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) sensitization, career coaching, connections with social impact groups, and mentoring with talent management teams from corporates to equip the community with the skills necessary for a green workforce transformation.

• Sustainable Ecosystem Development: Support students, educators, employers, and careers professionals in promoting responsible workplaces and purposeful, ethical careers aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Strategic Mission-Driven Partnerships: Foster active collaborations to drive the mission forward and generate adaptable resources for green skills acquisition, including UN Global Compact Network Chapters and Students Organizing for Sustainability International.

Research

The Working Group seeks to pursue multi-institutional collaborative research projects to advance responsible workplaces and purposeful careers. Our flagship initiative, the Sustainability in Early Careers research project, began in the UK and Ireland and is expanding internationally with interest from PRME Chapters in North America, DACH, ASEAN, and India. This project uses a shared survey instrument to generate comparative insights across regions. Wider research themes include the sustainability skills gap, green workforce transformation, career development through SDG-oriented storytelling, and enterprise education for responsible business practice.

Members pursue publication in peer-reviewed journals, contribute to edited volumes, and develop practitioner-focused reports. The group emphasises both theoretical contributions and practical applications, bridging academic rigour with real-world impact. The Working Group actively encourages proposals for new collaborative research initiatives that can engage multiple institutions and produce meaningful outcomes for students, educators, and employers. The Working Group also seeks to create virtual conferences/symposia to bridge the gap between academia and industry, as well as joint white papers with industry groups, patents/sustainable careers index.

Engagement Opportunities

The Working Group offers diverse engagement opportunities designed to connect, involve, and expand our global network. This includes hosting regular webinars—planning two within the first six months—featuring member projects, panel discussions on shared interests, and insights from industry practitioners, academics, and educational organisations. These sessions provide platforms for showcasing innovative work and facilitating dialogue among educators, students, career professionals, and employers.

Members will be able to join our mailing list for updates and connect through our planned LinkedIn group for ongoing discussions. We actively recruit organising committee members who contribute by organising webinars or events, ensuring broad participation in leadership. The group facilitates networking among people working on local projects while enabling international collaboration. Members gain access to event recordings, resources, and opportunities to participate in or lead collaborative research and pedagogic initiatives. We particularly welcome contributions from multiple disciplinary backgrounds and encourage partnerships between academic institutions and industry.

The potential for immersion cross cultural program during summer/winter breaks will also be explored.

Resource Development
The Working Group is committed to creating high-quality resources to support the implementation of values-oriented leadership, purposeful careers and responsible management education. Our existing resources span research reports, academic publications, teaching materials, and practical toolkits. The Sustainability in Early Careers report provides empirical insights for educators and employers. The Working Group aims to develop teaching resources, including employability masterclasses, sustainability-focused career development modules, and storytelling approaches aligned with the SDGs. A ‘Green Skills for Green Jobs initiative’, a further collaboration between 5 PRME members in the UK together with Students Organising for Sustainability UK, will generate resources for green skills acquisition in higher education, adaptable to other localities in due course. Resources are designed to be practical, evidence-based, and accessible to diverse audiences, including faculty, careers services teams, students, and employers. All resources seek to emphasise actionable insights that bridge theory and practice in purposeful career development.

Stay tuned for resources to be uploaded in the resources tab!

Co-Chairs

Dr Jonathan Louw, Oxford Brookes University, PRME UK and Ireland

jlouw@brookes.ac.uk

Dr Karen Cripps, Oxford Brookes University, PRME UK and Ireland

kcripps@brookes.ac.uk

Dr Musarrat Shaheen, Institute of Management Technology (Hyderabad), PRME India

drmusarrat.shaheen@gmail.com

Steering Committee

Student and Early Careers Engagement Lead: Nikhil Reddy Gogu, Antwerp Management School, Belgium

Dr Stephen T Homer, Sunway University, Malaysia

Professor Wulf-Peter Schmidt, CBS University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Please fill out the form here to join the Working Group.