Nayanee Silva
About
My research project
Materials management, Sustainabililty Strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Private Sector: A Comparative Study
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 analysis will include comparisons of firms in a developed economy (the UK) and in a developing economy (Sri Lanka) where there is a dearth of research on sustainable materials manufacturing and related impacts. The study will cover three industry sectors in the two countries, with analysis of SDGs and community engagement, including 8 case studies and a larger population of private sector companies in two sectors.
The aim is to create a sustainability index of economic, environmental and social impacts of manufacturing, for the organisations taking part which will measure financial sustainability, carbon emissions, materials management , energy consumption, waste, circular economy of input materials and industrial ecology. CSR strategy, employee well-being and community engagement will also be analysed for the participating organisations. The outputs from this study will provide a several-dimensional sustainability measure to assess the impact of production activities, improve knowledge of sustainability towards making potential savings, implementing sustainability into profitable product strategy, make greener choices in materials, reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions and consider the social impacts of business activities alongside actions to align with national carbon net zero policies. It will also help compare the sustainability performance of organisations within sectors and within a national context.
Supervisors
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 analysis will include comparisons of firms in a developed economy (the UK) and in a developing economy (Sri Lanka) where there is a dearth of research on sustainable materials manufacturing and related impacts. The study will cover three industry sectors in the two countries, with analysis of SDGs and community engagement, including 8 case studies and a larger population of private sector companies in two sectors.
The aim is to create a sustainability index of economic, environmental and social impacts of manufacturing, for the organisations taking part which will measure financial sustainability, carbon emissions, materials management , energy consumption, waste, circular economy of input materials and industrial ecology. CSR strategy, employee well-being and community engagement will also be analysed for the participating organisations. The outputs from this study will provide a several-dimensional sustainability measure to assess the impact of production activities, improve knowledge of sustainability towards making potential savings, implementing sustainability into profitable product strategy, make greener choices in materials, reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions and consider the social impacts of business activities alongside actions to align with national carbon net zero policies. It will also help compare the sustainability performance of organisations within sectors and within a national context.
Affiliations and memberships
Biography
Nayanee Silva is a business professional with over 25 years of finance, management and consulting experience. Following a corporate career in the management consulting industry, she has provided coaching, mentoring and business consulting services for over 20 years. She is a certified 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 development projects in Sri Lanka.
Nayanee has experience in the private sector and higher education. Her experience working with businesses and clients in the UK and internationally has developed a keen interest in the implementation of sustainability in organisations and CSR strategy. Nayanee's research interests include sustainability in organisations, materials management, sustainable development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Life Cycle Assessment, renewable energy technologies and the Circular Economy. Her aim through research is to support organisations and communities with improving their understanding of sustainability, incorporate materials management and sustainability successfully into business strategy and learn from global frameworks to implement best practices.
ResearchResearch interests
- Comparison of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) in private sector industry from developed to developing countries.
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Community engagement
- Circular Economy and its implementation in the manufacturing sector
- Life Cycle Analysis for organisations
- Net Zero Transition
- Sustainability challenges for SMEs
- Sustainability strategy and measurement in Private Sector organisations
- Industrial ecology within organisational networks
- Renewable Energy Technologies
- Carbon Emissions measurement and strategy
- Intrinsic and extrinsic CSR in the private sector
- Green finance
- SDGs measurement framework
- Sustainable development - impacts of interventions through microfinance, training and education to empower rural and disadvantaged communities.
- Member of UKERC for Whole Systems Networking Fund (Surrey project)
- Zero Emissions Enterprise (ZEE) - a group of researchers working on decarbonisation challenges for SMEs
Research projects
A UKERC Whole Systems Networking Fund (WSNF) project. Energy modelling plays a vital role in the transition to a net zero economy and contributes to energy security, with models underpinning decision-making across policy, industry and civil society.
However, the energy sector remains one of the least gender diverse and women are significantly underrepresented in the energy modelling research area. Therefore, it is essential to build a network with multiple resources to encourage women from different disciplines and sectors to join energy modelling research and application.
This project will open doors for women throughout the energy community, including academic researchers, companies along the energy supply chain, policymakers in both central and local government, NGOs and practitioners.
The anticipated outputs include:
- A social media group for connection building and future discussion among the peer community.
- An online platform with open learning resources (e.g. reports, publications, presentations) on multiple energy models and fundamental trainings to get started.
- A series of events with bespoke mentorship from professional energy modelling practitioners and a long-term mentorship scheme beyond the lifetime of this project.
Research collaborations
Zero Emissions Enterprise (ZEE) - a group of 60+ researchers from University of Oxford, Open University and Sheffield Hallam working on the challenges of decarbonisation for SMEs.
Research interests
- Comparison of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) in private sector industry from developed to developing countries.
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Community engagement
- Circular Economy and its implementation in the manufacturing sector
- Life Cycle Analysis for organisations
- Net Zero Transition
- Sustainability challenges for SMEs
- Sustainability strategy and measurement in Private Sector organisations
- Industrial ecology within organisational networks
- Renewable Energy Technologies
- Carbon Emissions measurement and strategy
- Intrinsic and extrinsic CSR in the private sector
- Green finance
- SDGs measurement framework
- Sustainable development - impacts of interventions through microfinance, training and education to empower rural and disadvantaged communities.
- Member of UKERC for Whole Systems Networking Fund (Surrey project)
- Zero Emissions Enterprise (ZEE) - a group of researchers working on decarbonisation challenges for SMEs
Research projects
A UKERC Whole Systems Networking Fund (WSNF) project. Energy modelling plays a vital role in the transition to a net zero economy and contributes to energy security, with models underpinning decision-making across policy, industry and civil society.
However, the energy sector remains one of the least gender diverse and women are significantly underrepresented in the energy modelling research area. Therefore, it is essential to build a network with multiple resources to encourage women from different disciplines and sectors to join energy modelling research and application.
This project will open doors for women throughout the energy community, including academic researchers, companies along the energy supply chain, policymakers in both central and local government, NGOs and practitioners.
The anticipated outputs include:
- A social media group for connection building and future discussion among the peer community.
- An online platform with open learning resources (e.g. reports, publications, presentations) on multiple energy models and fundamental trainings to get started.
- A series of events with bespoke mentorship from professional energy modelling practitioners and a long-term mentorship scheme beyond the lifetime of this project.
Research collaborations
Zero Emissions Enterprise (ZEE) - a group of 60+ researchers from University of Oxford, Open University and Sheffield Hallam working on the challenges of decarbonisation for SMEs.