Prof Richard Blundel

Richard is an organisational researcher and educator with a particular interest in the links between entrepreneurial activity, innovation and environmental sustainability.  He leads the Social and Sustainable Enterprise research cluster at The Open University and supervises doctoral research in this area. A common theme in his work is an examination of the nature and consequences of growth in different organisational contexts, including artisanal food producers, small manufacturing businesses and social enterprises. Richard was co-lead for ‘Growing Greener’ (2017-20) an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account project with the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford and communications specialists, Climate Outreach, which developed a values-based course and toolkit to promote more effective engagement with owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Related projects include ‘GOZERO’ (2022-24), a UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) project, which examines the governance of SME decarbonisation across the UK nations.  Richard is also a co-founder of the Zero Emissions Enterprise (ZEE) network, which promotes collaborative research on the role of SMEs in the transition to Net Zero.

Work w/ CUSP

Richard is collaborating with Prof Fergus Lyon and colleagues on work related to the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the transition to a more sustainable economy. This builds on earlier work on environmental responsibility in SMEs, and on the effectiveness of policy-making in this area.