Sakshi Bansal
Friday May 23
BIO
Sakshi Bansal is a organisational psychologist with expertise in resilience, operations, and sustainability with extensive experience across grassroots, policy, and private sector initiatives globally. She works at Arup in London, specializing in people operations strategy for major assets including ESG risk identification and planning. Sakshi is the recipient of the Diana Award, a UNESCO Kindness Leader, and the founder of Project LEAP, a global initiative supporting youth activists. She has published research on ESG engagement and sustainability taxonomy and digital strategies, co-authored a book on organizational resilience, and spoken at prestigious forums, including the UN General Assembly. Sakshi is a champion for the role of psychologists in the sustainability space.
Preliminary title
Sustainability and Psychology: Shaping Organizational Resilience for a Sustainable Future
Annotation
Delve into how psychological principles intersect with sustainability initiatives, particularly within the context of modern-day organizations. Drawing on evidence from work psychology and my own experience as a practitioner, my lecture will focus on three critical challenges in the area of sustainability that are outlined by the UN: gaps in sustainable finance, lack of clarity on sustainable leadership and building sustainable data ecosystems. I will highlight the role that psychologists ought to play to solve these three critical challenges, these include lending our expertise on psychological drivers that influence organizational behaviour towards sustainability adoption, setting up governance structures that support sustainability adoption, assessing organisational risks to encourage sustainable finance amongst others. Case studies from my work (both developed and emerging markets) and my experience in setting up a people/organisational risk assessment service line for private equity clients investing in sustainable ventures will underscore the importance of resilience and adaptability in addressing the sustainability challenges of today. This lecture will provide actionable insights on how organizational psychologists can influence long-term sustainable practices by integrating psychology with sustainability frameworks.