School of Earth and Environment
Untitled Document

Louise Ellis Dr Louise Ellis

Director of External Partnerships; Programme Leader: MSc Sustainability (Environmental Consultancy; Lecturer in Sustainability.

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 33316
Email address: l.a.ellis@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 10.111

Biography

Louise's broad research interests and expertises are centred a round business and sustainability; investigating the role businesses can play in achieving sustainable development.

She specialises in the governance of sustainability and transformative sustainable business models.

This encompasses her research investigating;

  • the interface between business and policy and the role and influence of big business in sustainable development policy-making;
  • the impact of recession and economic downturn on the action and language of corporate social responsibility;
  • corporate response to climate change and decarbonisation.

Louise is currently working with the Centre for Low Carbon Futures investigating the drivers and barriers in achieving a low carbon economy and evaluating the impact of these on business and policy decision-making.

Louise is a member of the research group Business and Organisations for Sustainable Societies (BOSS); follow this group on Twitter @BOSSLeeds.

Louise has a number of years consultancy experience in the area of sustainability. Prior to joining SRI she was a manager within the sustainability risk team at Deloitte, where she was involved in a number of CSR and due diligence projects. She has experience of project development and finance, particularly in the infrastructure sectors through here role at Mott MacDonald. Louise has been involved in a number of energy projects worldwide. This experience has been invaluable in the development and management of the MSc Sustainability (Environmental Consultancy) programme. Louise continues to develop her consultancy and external project portfolio through her work in the School, SRI and BOSS.

Louise is a member of the organising committee for the annual Corporate Responsibility Research Conference, she has been a national judge for the Annual Chamber Awards Green Business award and the Institute of Environmental Assessment (IEMA) study essay competition.

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Environmental Science; University of Brighton
  • MSc Environmental Impact Assessment and Management; University of East Anglia
  • PhD Policy Analysis, Business and Sustainable Development; University of Leeds

Research Interests

  • Business Sustainability
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Sustainable Development Policy
  • Climate Change and Governance and Multi-Stakeholder Decision-making

Academic CV (pdf file)

Publications

  • Ellis L; Bastin C (2011) Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Recession: Changing Discourses and Implications for Policy and Practice, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, 18, pp.294-305. doi: 10.1002/csr.254
  • Ellis L (2007) Who influences policy? Analysing actor influence on the UK sustainable development strategy, International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 6, pp.36-52.
  • Gouldson A; Harwatt H; Ellis LA; Kerr N (Not yet published) Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy: Ground-truthing the Models, Nature Climate Change, .
  • Ellis LA (Not yet published) A Monopoly of Legitimacy: Corporate activity in Sustainable Development Policy, Sustainable Development, .
  • Ellis LA; Gouldson A; Harwatt H; Kerr N (Not yet published) Business Perspectives on the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy, Journal of Cleaner Production, .
  • Young CW; Ellis L; Figge F; Hahn T (Not yet published) Moving to eco-sufficiency to create a transformative sustainable business model, Global Environmental Change, .
  • Harwatt H; Gouldson A; Ellis LA; Kerr N (Not yet published) Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy: Business Perspectives and Policy Options, Energy Policy, .