Nayanee Silva
Academic and research departments
Social research on sustainability, Centre for Environment and Sustainability.My research project
Materials management, sustainabililty strategy and corporate social responsibility in the private sector
The purpose of this research is to investigate materials management, sustainability strategies and the related impacts on corporate social responsibility (CSR) through a comparison of firms in the private sector. The research will compare a range of private sector companies, from those that have an indifferent approach to sustainable materials management and processes to those that have implemented a circular economy and a well-developed sustainability strategy, including steps taken towards reducing their carbon footprint, whilst also analysing the factors that give rise to these differences. The analysis will include comparisons of firms in a developed economy (the UK) and in a developing economy (Sri Lanka) where little investigation has been carried out on sustainable material management and related CSR impacts. The study will include two industry sectors with selected products and will include analysis of SDG measurability, energy and industrial ecology.
Research will include quantitative and qualitative elements, including Life Cycle Analysis (and related software), questionnaires and interviews.
Supervisors
Affiliations and memberships
Biography
Nayanee Silva is a finance and business professional with over 25 years of business management experience. Following a corporate career, she has provided education, career consulting and business services for over 20 years through her own consultancy business. She is a qualified finance professional and life coach. She is also the founder and President of The Aspire Community Foundation, a non-profit foundation working with other NGOs to support community projects in welfare, education, vocational training and sustainable small business schemes in Sri Lanka. Nayanee is a professional mentor for SMEs, higher education and early careers. Her experience working with businesses and individual clients in the UK and internationally has developed a keen interest in developing sustainable business strategies with a focus on CSR initiatives. Nayanee's research interests span sustainable business and materials management strategy, corporate social responsibility in business and the community, improving access to renewable energy and practical frameworks for implementing sustainability in the corporate sector.
Research
Research interests
- Comparison of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) in private sector industry from developed to developing countries. What gives rise to differences in practices and attitudes to sustainability within firms
- Circular Economy, Lean Management
- Life Cycle Analysis of production and organisations
- Applying industrial ecology to organisational networks
- Carbon Net-zero measurement, Carbon footprinting for products and value chains
- Intrinsic and extrinsic CSR in the private sector and effectiveness of
- Renewable energy and access in the developing world
- Green finance and promoting green investment
- SDGs measurement framework
- Sustainable development in the developing world - Sri Lanka. The impacts of interventions through micro finance, training and education to empower rural and disadvantaged communities.