LUMS is set to welcome sustainability expert Professor Jan Bebbington to the role of Pentland Centre Director in the new year.

Jan is a Professor of Accounting and Sustainable Development and joins LUMS from the University of Birmingham. She was Head of the School of Management at the University of St Andrews for several years prior, and has spent her academic career focusing on how organisations (through accounting and reporting activities) can contribute to sustainable development trajectories.

LUMS Dean, Professor Angus Laing, said: “I am delighted to announce that Jan will be taking on the role of Pentland Centre Director when she joins us in February 2021.

“Professor Bebbington has dedicated her academic life to the sustainability agenda. As well as bringing a wealth of experience, first class research and industry and government connections to Pentland, she brings true passion and commitment to her field.

“It is fantastic that the Rubin Foundation Charitable Trust has committed a further £625,000 funding to the Pentland Centre for the next five years which is testament to the crucial role that the Centre plays in leveraging the very best academic thinking to bring about long-lasting corporate change. Jan has been instrumental in shaping Government policy and agendas to date, and I look forward to supporting her in the new role.”

Professor Bebbington said: “The opportunity to join colleagues in LUMS, to work with colleagues across Lancaster University and to work alongside the Rubin Foundation Charitable Trust is an academic dream come true. It is an honour to build upon the outstanding work of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business has already undertaken and to continue that work into the future.”

In addition to her focus on sustainability, Professor Bebbington has been recognised for making a substantial contribution to UK academic accounting and finance life by the British Accounting and Finance Association, who awarded her their Distinguished Academic Award in 2013 and in 2018 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

The Pentland Centre published their biennial report, covering the years 2018-2020, this week. Interim Director Professor Jeffrey Unerman compiled the report to reflect the work of the Centre towards the end of its first five-year funding term. You can read the report here.