Ph.D. (Scuola Superiore SantAnna Pisa), Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (Higher Education Academy)
Assistant Professor in Business and Society
Department: Strategy and International BusinessCentre/Institute: ICCSRE-mail: Lara.Bianchi@nottingham.ac.ukTel: +44 (0) 115 8466135
Location: B09b (North Building, Jubilee Campus)
Lara is the Research Director of the Strategy and International Business Department.
She is a Business & Society scholar with a specific interest in Stakeholder Engagement, and Business & Human Rights.
Lara is currently leading a Research England Quality-related Research Policy Funding on the role of policymakers in human rights remedy for agricultural workers in the UK.
In the past three years, she acted as the Principal Investigator of a UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund and an ESRC Impact Accelerator Account projects on women's agency in conflict-affected societies.
In 2022, she was awarded a Rising Star Public Engagement Award by the Institute for Policy and Engagement of the University of Nottingham.
Prior to joining Nottingham, she worked as the Programme Lead for the Business and Human Rights Catalyst at the Alliance Manchester Business School, the University of Manchester. There she collaborated with the UN Human Rights, drafting the scoping report of the OHCHR Accountability and Remedy Project Phase III - "Non-State based non-judicial grievance mechanisms: an exploratory analysis".
During her doctoral programme, she was seconded to the II Committee of the 66th United Nations General Assembly in preparation for the Rio+20 Conference, where UN Member States launched the drafting process of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Areas of ExpertiseStakeholder Engagement; Business and Human Rights; Marginalized Stakeholders; Dialogism; Responsible Business Conduct
Lara has completed the full Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education in 2022 with Distinction. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy - FHEA.
Her teaching approach is research-informed and includes the development of inquiry skills for the achievement of meaningful learning on the role of business in society.
She currently convenes the Module Business, Human Rights and Sustainable Development (BUSI 2044, Level 2).
She is part of the teaching teams of the Business Ethics and Sustainability (BUSI 3182, Level 3) and Business Ethics (BUSI4021, MBA) Modules.
Lara is module convenor of the following module(s):
Undergraduate
Business, Human Rights and Sustainable Development (BUSI2044)
Details of all modules can be found on
MyNottingham
Lara's ongoing research focuses on global governance dynamics and stakeholder engagement, using ethics and dialogism as her main theoretical lenses.
Her paper "Gender and governance of global value chains: Promoting the rights of women workers" was included in 2022 in the UN PRME Best Ten Works to Read on Gender Equality; and Best 10 List Business and Human Rights.
Since August 2023, she has been leading a Research England Quality-related Research Policy Funding on the role of policymakers in human rights remedy. The project aims at designing a tailored grievance mechanism that can guarantee effective access to remedy for human rights abuses to seasonal migrant workers in the agricultural sector in the UK.
In 2021-2022 she led an ESRC IAA Project on Women rights and transformative engagement processes in conflict-affected societies, with a focus on Peshawar - Pakistan.
In 2020-2021, Lara was the Principal Investigator of a UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund Project - 'I am my dignity': A Moral Capability Assessment Tool (MCAT) for women's rights in fragile contexts. The Project directly addressed development challenges linked to gender equality (SDG5) and sustainable peace (SDG16) in Mindanao, Philippines, by designing a ground breaking Engagement Tool that puts women's voice and agency at the centre of sustainable peace and development for all.
Between 2020 and 2021 Lara was a co-investigator in a research project on Sustainable Artisanal Mining in Kenya, led by Prof Muthuri.
In 2022, Lara was awarded a Rising Star Public Engagement award by the Institute for Policy and Engagement for her excellent work in achieving policy impact and engaging the public with current research.
In 2019, she was awarded an Advance Research Fellowship by the Nottingham University Business School.
Lara is currently collaborating on the following projects:
- A step towards human rights remedy for agricultural workers in the UK: the role of policymakers
Lara is currently supervising the following Research Students:
Runlong Liu
University Administrative Roles
Member of the Advisory and Advocacy Group - Research Culture Project, Part of the new Research Strategy 2022/27, Research & Knowledge Exchange UoN
School Administrative Roles
Departmental Research Director (Strategy and International Business)
Researcher Champion
School and University Committee Memberships
| Committee | From | Role |
| Early Career Academic Forum |
2022 |
ECR Research Rep |
| Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee |
2023 |
RKE Committee Rep |
| Research & Knowledge Exchange Committee (Formerly RD) |
2022 |
|