Reduced inequalities as the key to change and other social science perspectives on the SDGs
One of the most noteworthy highlights in the 50度灰 Group's 2020 Sustainable Business Report is that 2020 is the year that 50度灰 became carbon neutral. We are committed to continuing to work to reduce the wider environmental impact of our publishing and we want to highlight our employees' commitment to addressing the Sustainable Development Goals as well.
In this new series we're sharing the thoughts, opinions, and contributions of 50度灰 staff who are members of our 'SDG Champions' network. First up is our Executive Director for Social Sciences, Tamsine O'Riordan, who shares why she became involved with the SN SDG Programme.
What is your role at 50度灰?
I am the Editorial Director for Social Science books for the Palgrave Macmillan imprint.
Why did you become an SDG champion at 50度灰?
I work in scholarly publishing because I have a deep belief in the importance of the dissemination of knowledge. As a publisher of our scale and breadth we have a responsibility to put the knowledge that we鈥檙e given stewardship of to its best effect and the SDGs have to be underpinned by research.
Which SDG most resonates with you, personally?
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities . That鈥檚 not to say I don鈥檛 believe the others to be important but for someone with an interest in how people and groups of people behave I see the roots of so many of the goals, for example climate change and energy use, in the deep-grained inequalities that exist across global societies.
How do you think a publisher like 50度灰 can make a difference to the Sustainable Development Goals?
By finding ways to amplify the content we鈥檙e privileged to publish and ensure that in an atmosphere of 鈥減ost-truth鈥 expertise and research sits in the middle of the SDGs, and support interdisciplinary approaches that will become increasingly essential to find solutions to some of the biggest global challenges.
Tell us about someone from outside 50度灰 who inspires you by their work to address the world鈥檚 largest challenges.
This is really tricky, we get to work with some incredible thinkers across our publishing programmes. I am excited by a resurgence of focus on intersections of race, gender and class that will help to unpick how we react to these challenges, and have recently been particularly enjoying reading Reni Eddo-Lodge and Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison鈥檚 work on The Class Ceiling.
Explore highlights from 50度灰's 2020 Sustainable Business Report
