Dr Alison Stowell
Senior LecturerResearch Overview
Alison's research interests focus on societal, organisational and management responses to complex wastes (e.g. e-waste, plastics etc). She is interested in how a range of actors (companies, government, civic society, local communities and individuals) response to waste and how these actors can develop inclusive solutions to waste generation or ciruclar solutions. Specific areas of interest include: 1) how actors response to waste policy; 2) how latent values are negoitatied and attributed to waste; and (3) how actors respond to waste as a particular type of occupation. For all three areas, she is focused on the impact on society.
Current Teaching
Postgraduate
EMBA Business Ethics and Sustainability (Convenor for Ghana and UK), MBA Responsible Management and Ethics (Contributing Lecturer), LUMSNET Pilot - Managing e-Waste (Convenor), Dissertation Supervisor.
Undergraduate
OWT.314 Business Ethics and Sustainability, Dissertation Supervisor.
Professional Role
Director of Engagement - OWT
Co-Principal Investigator - Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives
Co-Theme Lead for Sustainable Cities - Future Cities Research Institute
Co-organizer for Re-opening the bin – Waste, economy, culture and society
Qualifications
BSc Business and Information Technology (Portsmouth)
MSc Information Technology, Management and Organisational Change (Lancaster)
PhD Organisation, Work and Technology (Lancaster)
Profile
Alison joined the Department in 2014, prior to moving into academia; she worked in both public and private sector organisations. Alison has worked at the Crown Prosecution Service, IBM and as a Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. She is an accredited IBM IT Specialist and has held multiple roles during the time spent working there. These roles included Technical Support, Service Management and Service Operations.
Current Research
Alison's current research are interdisciplinary and collaborative venture:
1. FCRI Thematic Seed Corn Grant - Plastic Recycling and Reduction in Cities (PRRC) with Professor Kirk Semple, Professor Yuka Fujimoto, Professor Kheireddinea Arouna, Dr Alex Skandalis, Professor Maria Piacentini, Dr Jane Gew Lai Ti, Dr Pei Boon Ooi, Dr Stephen Homer.
2. UKRI NERC Plastic Packaging in People's Lives: Bridging the consumer attitude behaviour gap with Professor Maria Piacentini, Dr James Cronin, Dr Alex Skandalis, Professor Linda Hendry, Dr John Hardy, Dr Charlotte Hadley, Dr Matteo Saltalippi and Dr Savita Verma.
3. Re-Opening the bin conference, Goteborg, Sweden, June 2021 https://www.gu.se/en/school-business-economics-law/business-administration/re-opening-the-bin-waste-economy-culture-and-society
4. IAA: A violet biotechnology understanding (law, ethical and philosophical issues) of organic electronics with Dr John Hardy, Dr Noel Cass and Dr Hilary Stewart.
Research Grants
FCRI Thematic Seed Corn Grant (£24, 590) - Plastic Recycling and Reduction in Cities (PRRC). Dr Alison Stowell (Lead PI Lancaster) Professor Kirk Semple (Co PI), Professor Yuka Fujimoto (Lead PI Sunway), Professor Kheireddinea Arouna (Co PI), Dr Alex Skandalis (CI) , Professor Maria Piacentini (CI) , Dr Jane Gew Lai Ti (CI), Dr Pei Boon Ooi (CI), Dr Stephen Homer (CI) (April 2022-Sept 2022).
UKRI NERC (£950,321) - Awarded to Professor Maria Piacentini (Co PI), Dr Alison Stowell (Co PI), Dr James Cronin (CI), Dr Alex Skandalis (CI), Professor Linda Hendry, Dr John Hardy (CI) for the Plastic Packaging in Peoples Lives: Bridging the consumer attitude-behaviour gap (Nov 2020-Oct 2023)
UK WEEE Funds (£200,000 - Pentland Centre (£51,000) - Awarded to Anthesis (PI), Valpak (CI), REPIC (CI), Dr Alison Stowell (LU Pentland Centre PI), Dr Dmitry Yumashev (CI), Oliver Schaer, Camilia De Jesus Silva (April 2019-December 2019).
ESRC IAA (£6500) - Awarded to Dr Alison Stowell (PI) and Dr John Hardy (PI) for IAA: A violet biotechnology understanding of organic electronics (Sept 2019-Feb 2020)
REPIC Grant (£81,175.20) - Awarded to Dr Alison Stowell (PI), Dr Dmitry Yumashev (CI), Dr Lingxuan Liu (CI) for the UK EEE and WEEE Quantification and Compliance Target Study (Sept 2017 - July 2018).
Santander Universities Global Division and Lancaster University International Projects Award (£25,000) - Grant awarded to send Lancaster University Management School Students to attend the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Annual Meeting (October 2017, April, 2018).
Santander Universities Global Division and Lancaster University International Projects Award (£10,000) - Grant awarded to send Lancaster University Management School Students to attend the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Annual Meeting (April 2016).
Economic and Social Research Council - (UK) +3 studentship; Doctoral Scholarship in pursuance of a PhD in Organisation Studies focusing on the organisation of Electronic Waste, Lancaster University Management School, University of Lancaster.
External Roles
WBCSD Leadership Program Faculty Member and Academic Advisor
Additional Information
Awards:
2022 LUMS Dean's Professor Alistair Anderson Award
2018 LUMS Dean's Award for Excellence in Business Engagement
2017 World Business Council for Sustainable Development's inaugrual Education and Innovation Award
2015 LUMS Academic Staff Member of the Year
PhD Supervision Interests
I am interested in supervising students in subjects that are waste related or ideas surrounding the Circular Economy. More specifically, topics that focus on social, organisation and managerial responses, the negotiations surrounding values attributed to waste and waste as a particular type of work.
LU GCRF Block Grant and Newton & FCRI: Plastic Packaging in Peoples Lives - Malaysia
03/10/2022 → 30/09/2023
Research
GCRF and Newton Consolidation Accounts Lancaster University
01/04/2022 → 31/03/2023
Research
Plastic Recycling and Reduction in Cities
01/04/2022 → 30/09/2022
Research
ERM External Assurance Panel Member
26/03/2021 → 10/10/2021
Consultancy
Plastic Packaging in Peoples' Lives (PPiPL): Bridging the consumer attitude-behaviour gap
01/11/2020 → 31/05/2024
Research
Plastic Packaging in Peoples' Lives (PPiPL): Bridging the consumer attitude-behaviour gap
01/11/2020 → 31/10/2023
Research
Electrical Waste – Challenges and Opportunities: An independent study on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) flows in the UK
16/04/2019 → 01/01/2020
Consultancy
Independent study on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) flows in the UK
01/04/2019 → 31/12/2019
Consultancy
Climate and science insights for Nestlé’s TCFD reporting process
01/12/2018 → 31/07/2020
Consultancy
UK EEE and WEEE Quantification and Compliance Target Study, REPIC
01/10/2017 → 15/07/2018
Research
REPIC UK EEE and WEEE Quantification and Compliance Target Estimation Study
21/08/2017 → 15/07/2018
Research
IAA: A violet biotechnology understanding of organic electronics
01/01/1900 → …
Research
The Future Workforce
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Plastic Packaging in People's Lives: Rethinking the consumer attitude behaviour gap
Invited talk
Critiques of the Circular Economy(revisited)
Invited talk
Reflections on working on interdisciplinary funded projects
Invited talk
Meeting with colleagues from The Work Foundation
Expert Opinion
Meeting with CEO/Founder Rafa Jafar & Co-Founder Wirjadi Lorens
Expert Opinion
Panel Discussion: Packaging Today
Invited talk
UKSS International Conference 2023
Participation in conference - Academic
Do we need to change our attitudes towards recycling e-waste
Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition
Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) Waste and Resources Taskforce (External organisation)
Membership of committee
OTB3 (Opening the Bin 3) – Waste, economy, culture and society: ‘One World, one Bin?’
Other
BPF Sustainability and Plastics 2023: Weighing social responses to the challenges of waste plastics
Invited talk
Advancing Plastic Waste Reduction in Agri-Food Supply Chains: A Stakeholder Perspective
Invited talk
Panel Discussion: Plastics Sustainability: myth busting and the human factor
Invited talk
Futures work at Lancaster University no.2: The little book of plastics in everyday life
Invited talk
The future of recycling
Invited talk
Polymer International (Journal)
Editorial activity
Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives: Perspectives on the Consumer Attitude-Behaviour Gap
Oral presentation
Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives: Perspectives on the Consumer Attitude-Behaviour Gap
Invited talk
Plastic packaging in People's Lives (PPiPL): From farm to fork and beyond?
Invited talk
Alone, the circular economy will not phase out the linear economy
Invited talk
Getting into the circle: Alone, the circular economy will not phase out the linear economy
Invited talk
38th Annual IMP Conference
Participation in conference - Academic
PPiPL: Valuing the afterlives of materials
Invited talk
Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives: Reflections on Engaged Academic Research
Invited talk
LUMS What Matters Now
Other
E-Waste, Circular Economy and Innovation
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Single use plastic: A way forward
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Morecambe Bay Curriculum
Oral presentation
Mitie
Business Engagement
Textile Waste Meeting - Sewing Cafe
Other
ERM Stakeholder Engagement Interview
Expert Opinion
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics - Lunch Seminar Critiques of the Circular Economy
Invited talk
Biotech Services Ltd.
Business Engagement
IS4CE Seminar Critiques of a Circular Economy
Invited talk
Seminar - ReTrace Network
Invited talk
Circularity is not the panacea many had hoped for
Invited talk
Research Seminar - Critiques of the Circular Economy
Invited talk
Responsibility and Plastic Packaging: Exploring the issues for the packaging supply chain
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Collaborating across Organizational Boundaries: Co-Creating a more Just and Thriving Society (session 529)
Invited talk
Circular Economy and e-waste
Invited talk
Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Scope 3: Sustainability across the Supply Chain - Live Panel
Invited talk
Managing e-waste in a Circular Economy
Invited talk
E-waste, Circular Economy, Innovation
Invited talk
Finding your pathway into Sustainability
Invited talk
37th European Group of Organizational Studies Colloquium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
CPI introduction - electronics and sustainability
Other
European Group of Organizational Studies conference – Sub Plenary co-chairing with Professor Stefan Bohm and Professor Herve Corvellec
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
15th Organizational Studies Workshop
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry: Electronic Waste and the Circular Economy
Invited talk
NeuDrive Ltd.
Business Engagement
Re-Opening the bin: Waste, economy, culture and society
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
3rd Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
‘Waste and the Circular Economy’ Lancashire Low Carbon Forum workshop
Invited talk
Business Breakfast - Master Class in Loop Management
Invited talk
How can the Circular Economy improve business in Ghana
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
‘How can the Circular Economy improve business in Ghana’ in collaboration with Footprints Africa
Invited talk
Master Class in Loopy Management’ at LU Ghana Business Breakfast meeting
Invited talk
Reopening the bin – waste, economy, culture and society’ at Gothenburg University
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Setting robust and realistic PCS targets for WEEE to support the transition to a Circular Economy
Invited talk
Setting robust and realistic PCS targets for WEEE to support the transition to a Circular Economy
Invited talk
Circular Economy disruptions, past, present and future, International Symposium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Circular Economy disruptions, past, present and future, International Symposium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
13th Organization Studies Summer Workshop
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Meeting with Burlington Stone
Types of Business and Community - Hosting of external, non-academic visitor
13th Organization Studies Summer Workshop: Responding to Displacement, Disruption, and Division: Organizing for Social and Institutional Change
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Methodologies for setting WEEE targets’’ -presented with Yumashev, D to the REPIC Executive Board
Invited talk
International Workshop – Uncanny Futures: Speculative Ecologies of Waste
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
International Workshop – Uncanny Futures: Speculative Ecologies of Waste
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Methodologies for setting WEEE targets’ co-presented with REPIC
Invited talk
Master Class in Waste, Ethics and Sustainability – the Circular Economy
Invited talk
'Master Class in Waste, Ethics and Sustainability – the Circular Economy’
Invited talk
Speaker – the importance of education’ at the 2017 WBCSD Leaders Program Graduation Ceremony
Invited talk
Opening the Bin
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Opening the Bin Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
European Group of Organizational Studies conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (External organisation)
Member of an organisation
Culture and Organization (Journal)
Editorial activity
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Publisher)
Publication peer-review
Speaker – the importance of education’ at the 2016 WBCSD Leaders Program Graduation Ceremony
Invited talk
Plastics Landscape’ presented at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s annual meeting
Invited talk
20th EMAN Conference
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
12th International Conference on Organisational Discourse
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Policy Solutions Lab (Circular Economy) Workshop - Geneva
Invited talk
6th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
University of Cardiff’s Business School Staff Seminar
Invited talk
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Publisher)
Publication peer-review
Umeå School of Business and Economics Staff Seminar Series
Invited talk
Information Systems Journal (Journal)
Publication peer-review
110th ASA Annual Meeting
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
110th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
European Group of Organization Studies, 30th EGOS Colloquium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
30th European Group of Organization Studies Colloquium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Management Staff Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Organizing e-waste: A UK perspective’ presented at the University of Bristol’s Business School Staff Seminar
Invited talk
International Journal of Systems and Society (Journal)
Publication peer-review
The Business Systems Laboratory 2nd International Symposium Systems Thinking for a Sustainable Economy: Advancements in Economic and Managerial Theory and Practice
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
8th International Conference in Critical Management Studies
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Higher Education Academy
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Global Sustainability Institute Seminar Series
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
United Nations Environment Programme - Global Waste Management Outlook (Publisher)
Publication peer-review
International Journal of Systems and Society (Journal)
Publication peer-review
Managing e-waste
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Work, Employment and Human Resource Management: Observations from Japan and the UK
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Quadrangular Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
European Group for Organizational Studies, 27th EGOS Colloquium
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Rethinking Materialism Workshop
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Staff and Education Development Association (SEDA) (External organisation)
Member of an organisation
Lancaster University Management Dean's Award for Excellence in Business Engagement
Prize (including medals and awards)
World Business Council for Sustainable Development's inaugural Education and Innovation Award
Prize (including medals and awards)
Lancaster University Management School Academic Staff Member of the Year
Prize (including medals and awards)
Lancaster University Management School Dean's Professor Alistair Anderson Award
Prize (including medals and awards)
Centre for Technological Futures , Pentland Centre
Centre for Technological Futures , Materials Science Institute PhD Student, MSF PhDs Cohort 2 (2019/20)
- Centre for Consumption Insights
- Centre for Technological Futures
- MSF Supervisors 2019/20
- Pentland Centre