IHRBs Scott Jerbi Named 2016 LSE Research Fellow

IHRB's Senior Advisor Scott Jerbi has been awarded the 2016 David Davies of Llandinam (Dinam) Research Fellowship in the International Relations Department of the London School of Economics.

As the 2016 Dinam Research Fellow, Scott will study the role of public-private partnerships as a central element in strategies to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by world leaders in September 2015.

Many of the SDGs, including on decent work, industrialization, taxation and energy will require active and responsible business engagement to be achieved. However, the process to agree the new global development agenda saw limited debate concerning core expectations for business conduct that aligns with the vision set out in the SDGs as well as the necessary terms for effective collaboration between states, business and civil society.

While some states increasingly pursue partnership-oriented governance strategies, many continue to see such approaches as potentially threatening to state authority as well as limited in tangible impacts.

Scott’s research will seek to identify where common ground may exist among states and other actors concerning public-private partnerships to advance sustainable development objectives, including how they should be established and evaluated and how core principles of the responsible business agenda may be integrated into implementation plans.

The aim of the Fellowship is to bridge divisions between theorists and practitioners and support the study of international relations which directly links the application of expertise in international relations to policy development and execution. It seeks to advance understanding between academics, policy-makers and practitioners and thus ensure that studies are rooted in the real world and concerned with practical, actionable outcomes.