Addressing the climate emergency; Dr. Helen Etchanchu co-founds OS4future, a collective of researchers in management sciences that aims to transform behaviours and organizations.
A collective to implement immediate measures to address the climate crisis
Because it is crucial to take immediate action to address the current climate crisis, Dr. Helen Etchanchu, Lecturer-Researcher at Montpellier Business School, co-founded OS4future, a collective of researchers in management sciences that aims to transform research behaviours and organisations to achieve the goals of the Paris Accord.
It aims to create new initiatives among researchers, business and political leaders, students and citizens in order to act now to reduce the consequences on the environment. “It is our role as researchers in the social sciences to support and help companies and organisations change their behaviour and re-imagine the way they operate“, explains Dr. Helen Etchanchu.
4 founding values
For this purpose, OS4future bases its actions on four axes: research, teaching, consulting to organisations and exemplary behaviour. “OS4future focuses on climate action and covers all the main functions of the company. We integrate the results of climate research into our teaching and prepare students to lead change and make smart decisions in their individual and organisational roles“, says Dr. Etchanchu.
However, OS4future’s actions aim to go beyond the world of research and teaching. “We all work with business, political or social organisations and our actions should not be limited to just one of these fields“, says Dr. Etchanchu. “Our actions in the professional and private spheres will have a greater impact if they are consistent with what we teach“, she adds.
A call for action from the scientific community
The project was born from the desire to travel differently to limit our carbon footprint. “Last year, one of Europe’s largest management research conferences, EGOS, was held in Edinburgh. We took up the challenge of “EGOS by train”, in order to avoid having to travel by plane as we are all on the same continent”.
Limit your carbon footprint, set up a zero-waste routine, travel differently, and promote video conferences: OS4future seeks to show organisations through the exemplarity of the scientific community that it is possible. “We cannot remain credible and teach the impacts of climate change if we ourselves are not exemplary in our daily actions” says Dr. Helen Etchanchu.
Finally, we also have to rethink the role of the scientist in our society. “In the post-truth era, scientific methodology is a guarantee of trust. The scientific community must better share its knowledge and come out of its ivory tower to assist our organisations and society in social progress. Economic and political decision-makers need to be receptive to our expertise“, concludes Dr. Helen Etchanchu.
To learn more, read the full article (in French): Face aux crises, l’avènement du chercheur-militant.
