A University of Aberdeen academic is helping lead the way at the other side of the world following announcement of a new multi-million pound research programme into sustainable development for the New Zealand government.
Jan Bebbington, Professor of Accountancy at the University of Aberdeen will play a key role in the newly announced NZ$9.1million (£3.2million) project. Entitled "Building capacity for Sustainable Development: the enabling research" the project will be led from New Zealand but with significant research input from Professor Bebbington - herself a native of New Zealand - in Aberdeen.
The six-year research project aims to strengthen the capacity and capability of New Zealand as a country to support sustainable development within government, throughout business and within its local communities.
Professor Bebbington, a world leader in the development of accounting processes and procedures for sustainable development, said of her involvement in the project: "New Zealand is already a key player in terms of sustainable development policy. I am delighted to be part of this ambitious research project and hope to be able to part of the development of new tools and processes that support sustainable development. Scotland has a lot of learn from what New Zealand is currently doing in this area but I hope over the course of the six year project to be able to able to share their experiences and best practice with senior policy makers here in Scotland."
Professor Bebbington will today (Thursday November 6) meet Dr Bob Frame, part of the New Zealand project team, to discuss the detail of her involvement in the project. Professor Bebbington is the only UK academic invited to become involved in this high-profile project.