Shona RussellUniversity of St Andrews · School of Management
Shona Russell
BAcc, PhD
About
31
Publications
19,915
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1,175
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
February 2012 - present
February 2008 - November 2011
January 2004 - December 2007
Publications
Publications (31)
https://wevaluenature.eu/article/guarding-against-perverse-outcomes-natural-capital-thinking
Philanthrocapitalism—the strategic application of market methods and motives for philanthropic purposes—plays increasingly prominent roles in policy design and implementation at national and international levels. Notwithstanding philanthrocapitalism's growing significance, relevant scholarly discourse remains limited and fragmented. Drawing togethe...
Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we use...
Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we use...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the nature and relevance of debates around the existence of, and ramifications arising from, the Anthropocene for accounting scholarship.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s aim is achieved through an in-depth analysis of the Anthropocene, paying attention to cross-disciplinary contributions,...
Article impact statement: New collaborations with accounting research can improve conservation impact of ecosystem‐based information systems.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise academic research in environmental accounting and demonstrate its shortcomings. It provokes scholars to rethink their conceptions of “accounts” and “nature”, and alongside others in this AAAJ special issue, provides the basis for an agenda for theoretical and empirical research that begi...
This paper emerges from an invitation to reflect upon the achievements of social and environmental accounting as well as to identify the challenges that lie ahead as the field continues its engagement with the goal of sustainable development. Three perspectives are developed in pursuit of that aim, namely: exploring the nature of the issues and mod...
The concept of transformation in relation to climate and other global change is increasingly receiving attention. The concept provides important opportunities to help examine how rapid and fundamental change to address contemporary global challenges can be facilitated. This paper contributes to discussions about transformation by providing a social...
Purpose
To provide theoretical and empirical insights into the effective use of external accounts by social activists in conflict arenas in order to bring about change.
Design/methodology/approach
This article presents a longitudinal case study of Action on Smoking and Health UK (ASH) and their use of external accounts and other activist practices...
Despite the apparent failure of international negotiations and renewed criticism of the accuracy of climate science, responses to climate change continue in households, cities, fields, and meeting rooms. Notions of “doing something about”, or “taking action on” or “mitigating and adapting” to climate change inform practices of carbon trading, resto...
The Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) network is an international community of academics and practitioners engaging in social and environmental accounting scholarship. CSEAR has developed from a small number of UK-based researchers in 1991 to an international network of 246 members today from academia and practice. In...
In Canterbury, water management presents a particular challenge with regard to resource availability and quality, and the impact of intensification of land use and changing forms of agriculture. These issues have led to the development of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy, which identifies a number of options to resolve them. A sustainabilit...
New technologies are needed to address sustainability issues through emerging forms of governance. These will be concerned with agency, performance and citizenship as much as with traditional biophysical concerns. The governance of water is a complex and critical issue where sustainability issues are coming to the fore and in which, we contend, tec...
Purpose: To contribute to discussions on the potential of external accounting to engage with different institutions in order to bring about change.
Design/methodology/approach: This paper develops a typology of external accounts to differentiate how accounting is used in processes of transformation. Drawing on this typology, we provide an in-dept...
Water governance refers to the institutions, legislation and decision-making processes applied to develop and manage water resources. As pressures on water resources increase there has been a realisation that technocratically-driven water management has not achieved desired sustainability outcomes. Attention must be focused not only on better scien...
International experience has shown that extensive, systematic and structured stakeholder engagement is important in modern water resource governance. Through two case studies in the Canterbury Region, we investigate the emergence of structured and deliberative participatory processes for decision-making in New Zealand. We particularly focus on the...
The main objective of this paper was to analyse how sustainable development indicators impacted upon the integration of sustainable development into the governing of Scotland. A major concern was whether an accounting technology could represent this complex multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary concept. We analysed the relationship between the of...
Sustainable development indicators (SDI) can define priorities, determine sustainable actions, evaluate policy options and legitimate government interventions. Sustainable development strategies and indicators used in Scotland, however, show a lack of consistency with a potential for distortion of performance. The attributes of a sustainable Scotla...
Water scarcity is increasing internationally and now is also affecting the natural water resources of New Zealand. This paper explores two solutions at a local level—water-storage and water-sharing regimes—that address the problems of water scarcity and competition for water, towards more sustainable development. Both systems show positive effects...
Water management in the Canterbury region of New Zealand is reaching sustainability limits in terms of water availability and cumulative effects of its use. The Canterbury Water Management Strategy was developed as a collaborative governance approach to formulate a new way of managing water in the region. A key component of strategy development was...
Projects
Projects (3)
This research programme originates in my own explorations of the concept of sustainability. It reflects my concerns over the manner in which the promotion of the 'triple bottom line' and more particularly the communication of social and environmental impacts have been corrupted with the term "sustainability". More generally, the programme reflects deeper concerns about human-nature relations, and the over-exploitation of the non-human environment.
This research programme investigates the "sustainability" practices of New Zealand organisations. It aims to critically evaluate the extent to which NZ business is responding to the pressure to become more "sustainable", and investigates three key integrated themes. First, how do NZ businesses conceptualise "sustainability" as portrayed through their external "sustainability" or "triple-bottom-line" reports and other public acts and statements, and how do these differ from conceptualisations portrayed in the broader economic, political, environmental and social literatures? Second, how do NZ businesses operationalise sustainability concepts, and what internal organisational changes are taking place as a result? Third, how is NZ business management decision-making being affected by the new emphasis on "sustainable" operations?
This programme was initially funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund 2003-06 (02-UOO-120) and has involved collaborations with Prof. Kate Kearins (AUT), Prof. Rob Gray (St-Andrews), Prof. Richard Morgan (Otago), and previous students Dr. Christine Byrch, Dr. Helen Tregidga and Jackie Allen. Other collaborators included Prof. Amanda Ball and Dr. Sara Walton (Otago).
Recent extensions to this programme are in process and involve a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Funded Fast Start programme 2010-2013 led by Dr. Helen Tregidga (09-AUT-015) on Greenwashing and Counter-Narratives. The aim here is to investigate the effects and affects of green language and identity construction on traditional business adversaries such as conservationists and environmental stakeholders. It investigates the response of these groups to corporate greening, their interpretations, and their counter proposals and narratives.
Further extensions currently in process include collaborations with (1) Dr. Shona Russell (St. Andrews) and Dr. Colin Dey (Stirling) investigating Ecological Accounts, Accounts of Nature and the Nature of Accounts. (2) Dr. Sanjaya Kuruppu (UniSA) investigating the embedding of sustainability within a large NZ subsidiary of a multinational extractive industries company. (3) Prof. Rob Gray (St. Andrews) investigating the social construction of corporate environmental performance. (4) Matt Scobie (Sheffield) investigating (un) accountability in the NZ oil exploration industry. And (5) Prof. John Burns and Dr. Stephen Jollands (Exeter) investigating the use of Natural Capital Accounts in the UK forestry sector funded by a CIMA strategic initiative award.
CSEAR aims to be a world-recognized, global community of scholars who engage with students, activists, practitioners, policy makers and other interested groups in order to generate and disseminate knowledge on social and environmental accounting and accountability. Our mission is to encourage and facilitate high quality, relevant research, teaching and external engagement with practice and policy through developing knowledge, expertise, resources and a supportive network for mentoring and career development.
An exploration of sustainability in schools and universities blending insights from theory and practice.
