Student Essay Competition

The competition is now closed for 2020 - the winners are set to be announced in the Autumn. Details of the 2021 competition will also be announced then.

Previous Winning Essays

Undergraduate category

Year	Student	University	Essay
2019	Joel Christoph	UCL	Ethics and Workplace Automation
2018	Nathalie Becker	St Andrews	Corporations in the 'Postnational Constellation': applying a post-colonial lens to Corporate Social Responsibility practices in a global order
2017	David Kerr	Birbeck College, University of London	Tax Avoidance: the ethical question for business
2016	Eleanor Weston	University of Brighton	Should the NHS be Free to Every Citizen Regardless of Health Choices?

Postgraduate category

Year	Student	University	Essay
2019	Ysabel Dela Rosa	University of Bath	The introduction of ‘voluntary’ microchip technology in the workplace: An innovative solution or invasion of privacy?
2018	Firoza Dodhi	UCL Faculty of Laws	Exploring the Ethical Issues of Innovation in Legal Services
2017	Charles Sherwood	London School of Economics	Doing the Right Thing: business ethics, moral indeterminacy and existentialism
2016	Jonathan Webb	Queen Mary, University of London	Supply Chain Corruption: a business ethics blind spot

Contact the competition lead to find out more...

Professor Chris Cowton

Associate Director (Research), IBE, c.cowton@ibe.org.uk

Chris brings his vast experience of researching business ethics issues to the work of the IBE Research Hub, with a remit to strengthen its widely respected applied research and a specific role of further developing our engagement with higher education.

Chris Cowton is Emeritus Professor at the University of Huddersfield and Visiting Professor at Leeds University’s Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied Centre. He was previously Professor of Accounting (1996-2016), Professor of Financial Ethics (2016-2019) and Dean of the Business School (2008-2016) at Huddersfield, having joined after ten years lecturing at the University of Oxford.

He is internationally recognised for his contributions to business ethics, especially his pioneering work on financial ethics. In 2013 he was awarded the University of Huddersfield’s first DLitt (Doctor of Letters, a higher doctorate) in recognition of his contribution to the advancement of knowledge in business and financial ethics.

He is the author of more than 60 journal papers, has edited three books and has written many book chapters. He was Editor of the journal Business Ethics: A European Review for a decade (2004-2013).

He is also a visiting professor at University of the Basque Country, Bilbao (Spain), and has been a visiting professor at the University of Bergamo (Italy) and a member of the Ethics Standards Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (2009-2018).

You can read Chris's extensive bibliography here

Discussion of ethics in public life, including business, often makes unhelpful sweeping generalisations that take us nowhere. ‘Politicians are only in it for themselves’, ‘businesses manipulate consumers’, etc. Such comments describe one end of a spectrum, perhaps, but they do a disservice to those who are trying to do so much better. The IBE plays a key role, in supporting high standards of business behaviour and I am delighted to use my research expertise to contribute to that mission.

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