Profile

Qualifications

1982 BA(Hons), Engineering, University of Cambridge

1987 Chartered Engineer, Member of Institution of Civil Engineers (C Eng, MICE)

2004 MA (with Distinction), Development Studies, University of Manchester

2010 PhD “Post-Foundationalism, Social Transformation and the coming Third Industrial Revolution”, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Previous Positions

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Management Consultancy (1995-2002)

Principal Consultant and programme manager with particular focus on developing and implementing business change and business process re-engineering programmes, and on the privatisation of government services through public-private partnerships

Various appointments as a civil engineer (1983 to 1995), including:

Three years as business manager of a commercial research laboratory testing building and civil engineering structures and components. General experience of management and marketing.

Seven years as a consulting civil engineer, with Halcrow consulting engineers, designing infrastructure projects including harbours, roads and dams

Two years as site engineer in the Sultanate of Oman with Taylor Woodrow International civil engineering contractors

Memberships

Member of Institution of Civil Engineers (CEng MICE)

Former Convener of Business and Development Study Group, Development Studies Association (DSA)

Research Interests

·         Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Business Ethics

·         Microfinance and social enterprise

·         Role of emerging economies in international development

·         Impact of global economic growth on poverty and inequality

·         Role of business in society, with particular reference to how society responds to major global challenges such as climate change and poverty

·         Theory and practice of social transformation

·         Use of contingency approaches in complexity science and post-structural theory to understand processes of change in individual behaviour and in social practices

·         Relevance of new insights into the embodied mind for understanding the interdependence of the material and the social world

·         Connections between developments in cognitive neuroscience and complexity theory, psychoanalysis and post-structural social theory

Esteem Indicators

Peter’s research on poverty and inequality has been included in publications for development practitioners by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has been included in various policy documents by NGOs and has been cited in evidence to UK Government select committee by the reformist think-tank the New Economics Foundation.

Keywords

Poverty, Inequality and Growth; Business in Society; CSR and corporate citizenship; International Development; Social Transformation; Cognitive Neuroscience; Complexity Theory; Post-structuralism and Post-foundationalism; Embodiment; Lacan

Undergraduate Teaching

BUS2024 International Business Environment

BUS3017 Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics

Postgraduate Teaching

NBS8045 International Business Environment

NBS8489 Business Analysis for Decision Making (MBA)

NBS8493 Corporate Social Responsibility (MBA)

NBS8513 Role of Business in Society

NBS8523 Individual Project (MBA) 

• Articles

  • Speed F, Scurry T, Edward P, Moufahim M. Networks amongst Syrians: Situated Migrant Positionalities and the Impact on Relational Embedding. Social Inclusion 2021, 9(4), 243-253.
  • Edward P, Sumner A. Global Poverty and Inequality: Are the revised estimates open to an alternative interpretation?. Third World Quarterly 2018, 39(3), 487-509.
  • Edward P, Sumner A. Estimating the Scale and Geography of Global Poverty Now and in the Future: How Much Difference Do Method and Assumptions Make?. World Development 2014, 58, 67-82.
  • Sumner A, Edward P. Assessing Poverty Trends in Indonesia by International Poverty Lines. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 2014, 50(2), 207-225.
  • Edward P, Tallontire A. Business and Development – towards re-politicisation. Journal of International Development 2009, 21, 819-833.
  • Edward P, Willmott H. Dialogue: Corporate Citizenship: Rise or Demise of a Myth?. Academy of Management Review 2008, 33(3), 771-773.
  • Edward P. The Ethical Poverty Line: a moral quantification of absolute poverty. Third World Quarterly 2006, 27(2), 377-393.
  • Edward P. The Ethical Poverty Line: a moral definition of absolute poverty. UNDP Poverty in Focus 2006, 9, 14-16.
  • Edward P, Olsen WK. Paradigms and Reality in Micro-Finance: The Indian Case. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 2006, 5(1), 31-54.
  • Edward P. Examining Inequality: Who really benefits from global growth?. World Development 2006, 34(10), 1667-1695.
  • Edward P. The Ethical Poverty Line as a tool to measure global absolute poverty. Journal of Radical Statistics 2005, 89, 53-66.

• Authored Book

  • Edward P, Sumner A. The End of Poverty: Inequality and Growth in Global Perspective. Cham: Palgrave Pivot, 2019.

• Book Chapters

  • Edward P, Sumner A. Global Inequality and Global Poverty Since the Cold War: How robust is the optimistic narrative?. In: Van Bergeijk, PAG;Van Der Hoeven, R, ed. Sustainable Development Goals and Income Inequality. Gloucestershire, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2017, pp.74-97.
  • Edward P. Decision-making: coping with madness beyond reason. In: Mir, R; Greenwood, M; Willmott, H, ed. Routledge Companion to Philosophy in Organization Studies. Routledge, 2016, pp.352-360.
  • Edward P, Willmott H. Decision-Making: Between Reason and the Ethico-Political Moment. In: Pullen, A; Rhodes, C, ed. The Routledge Companion to Ethics, Politics and Organizations. Routledge, 2015, pp.198-215.
  • Edward P, Willmott H. Discourse and Normative Business Ethics. In: Luetge, C, ed. Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013, pp.549-580.
  • Edward P, Willmott H. Structures, Identities and Politics: Bringing Corporate Citizenship into the Corporation. In: Scherer, A.G., Palazzo, G, ed. Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishers, 2008, pp.405-429.

• Working Papers

  • Edward P, Sumner A. New Estimates of Global Poverty and Inequality: How Much Difference Do Price Data Really Make? – Working Paper 403. Center for Global Development Working Papers 2015, 53.
  • Edward P, Sumner A. The Geography of Inequality: Where and by How Much Has Income Distribution Changed since 1990?. Center for Global Development Working Paper No.341 2013, 1-42.
  • Edward P, Sumner A. The Future of Global Poverty in a Multi-Speed World: New Estimates of Scale, Location and Cost. Center for Global Development Working Paper No.327 2013.