The award honours outstanding educators who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and learning on ONE-related themes, exploring the vital relationship between organisations and the natural environment. It recognises impactful classroom practices, innovative pedagogies, and scholarship that inspire future leaders to integrate sustainability and responsibility into management practice.
ONE commended Dr Kennedy on his “exceptional contributions to sustainability-related education and the development of future scholars and leaders”.
Dr Kennedy explained his educational philosophy: “Teaching business sustainability can evoke a complex mix of emotions – urgency, hope, guilt, anxiety – which I aim to guide students through with intention and care. My teaching style is rooted in constructivist pedagogies, including quizzes, gameshow-style activities, debates, team exercises, role-plays, and peer discussion.”
Delivering innovative education to all kinds of learners
Dr Kennedy’s impact on education can be seen in the courses and research he contributes to for a wide range of learners – from master students to executives to other educators and members of the public. His work focuses on advancing the practice of teaching business sustainability from a systems perspective.
For example, he has been heavily involved in the Model UNFCCC role-play, a collaboration between approximately ten business schools, where students are assigned roles such as countries or NGOs striving to come to a new climate agreement. As part of the project, Dr Kennedy teaches the course Climate Change Strategy Role-Play, an elective of the MSc International Management/CEMS and MSc Global Business & Sustainability. The course centres on the issue of climate change and offers insight to both international climate policy and corporate strategies on climate change. Students commonly remark that the course was the highlight of their academic studies, and for some it's a transformative experience that opens avenues for new behaviours and careers.
For his course Business & Systems change, the first core course of RSM's online MSc Sustainability Management, students move through a systems innovation process and learn skills such as systems mapping and finding leverage points. The course incorporates 'educational comedy' knowledge clips and a weekly hidden treasure, such as poems, songs, and riddles.
Outside of traditional university education, he has created several massive open online courses (MOOCs) for RSM on Coursera. Over 8,400 learners have benefitted from Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Landscape Restoration alone. And he has influenced other educators through his open-source research paper Teaching a systems approach to address the sustainability management disconnect, which includes a large appendix guiding teachers through teaching methods using a systems perspective.
Supporting sustainability management practitioners
Dr Kennedy also uses his unique approaches to make an impact on managers and corporate decision-makers of today. He has designed and delivered programmes and sessions for a wide range of large organisations across industries such as finance, construction, energy and commodities. He delivered a TEDx Talk called How Should Companies Approach Sustainability?, and he teaches on several of RSM’s Executive Education courses, including the new Sustainability for Business Impact.
ONE said, “Educators play a crucial role in shaping future leaders who can respond to urgent environmental challenges from pollution of air, water, and land to the depletion of renewable and non-renewable resources caused by organisational activity. Through innovative teaching and meaningful learning experiences, educators can foster the shift toward more sustainable and responsible practices in management and society.”
