Research Excellence

Leeds faculty advance thought leadership in CESR’s three focus areas: 1) Business solutions to environmental challenges; 2) Diversity, equity and inclusion; and 3) Ethical leadership. Through original research, they are helping define best practices, and influence business and policy conversations, in critically important areas related to environmental sustainability, social impact and governance (ESG).

To read more about their work and impact, please see our Faculty Thought Leadership articles.

CESR Research Grants & Awards

Each year, CESR recognizes Leeds faculty for research that has already been published with two awards: Best Paper and Highest Impact Paper. In addition, CESR names faculty for the CESR Research Fellowship grant to support ongoing research projects.

Award winning papers focus on issues that are timely, impactful and critically important to sustainability. These works not only are cited and used, but also change the way people think and work.

Best Paper Award

• 2024 (Co-Winner): Wonjae Chang, Michael Damba, Bryce Schonberger, and Inho Suk: Does Sensationalism Affect Executive Compensation? Evidence from Pay Ratio Disclosure Reform, Journal of Accounting Research, 2022
• 2024 (Co-Winner): Dejun Tony Kong, Sanghee Park, and Jian Peng: Appraising and Reacting to Perceived Pay For Performance: Leader Competence and Warmth as Critical Contingencies, Academy of Management Journal, 2023
• 2023: Beth Embry, Jeff York, Michael Conger, and Sid Vedula, Green to Gone: Regional Institutional Logics and Firm Survival in Moral Markets, Organization Science, 2022
• 2022: Andrea Pawliczek, Nikki Skinner, and Laura Wellman, A New Take on Voice: The Influence of BlackRock’s ‘Dear CEO’ letters, Review of Accounting Studies, 2021, vol. 26, issue 3, No 8, 1088-1136
• 2021: Emily Gallagher, Let the Rich Be Flooded: The Distribution of Financial Aid and Distress after Hurricane Harvey, Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Forthcoming

Highest Impact Paper Award

• 2024: Emilio Castilla and Ethan Poskanzer, Through the Front Door: Why Do Organizations (Still) Prefer Legacy Applicants? American Sociological Review, September 2022
• 2023: David Drake, Gloria Urrea, and Karthik Balasubramanian, The Impact of Poverty on Base of the Pyramid Operations: Evidence from Mobile Money in Africa, September 2022
• 2022: Gloria Urrea and Eunae Yoo, The Role of Volunteer Experience on Performance on Online Volunteering Platforms, February 2021
• 2021: David Drake, and Jeff York, Kicking Ash: Who (or What) is Winning the “War on Coal”?, Production and Operations Management, Volume30, Issue7, July 2021, Pages 2162-2187

CESR Research Fellowship Grants 2024

• Stephen Billings & Jaehee Song, Declining Homeownership and Wealth in Minority Neighborhoods: The Role of Corporate Buying of Single-Family Homes

• Dejun "Tony" Kong, “A New Way of Seeing” DEI That Guides Better Practices

• Rebecca Mitchell & Christina Lacerenza, Nurturing the Garden: Team-Level Structures that Promote Female Leadership

• Levente Szentkirályi, No CSR, No Market: Rejecting the Supererogatory Industry Standard of Sustainable Development Goals 

• Jeff York, Catching the Wave: The Emergence (or lack thereof) of Marine Energy

CESR Research Fellowship Grants 2023

• Marcia Kwaramba, ‘Doing More With Less’: Securing Food Security Through Frugal Innovations in Developing Economy Markets
• Liu Liu, Brand Advertising and Climate Change
• Austin Moss, Investment Decisions of Everyday People and Welfare Implications
• Ethan Poskanzer, Automation Technology, Diversity and Performance in Innovation
• Meghan Van Portfliet, Whistleblowing and the Media
• Ash Ganzoury and Jeff York, How Entrepreneurial Ventures Link Business Models to Social and Environmental Impact

CESR Research Fellowship Grants 2022

• Tony Cookson, Emily Gallagher, and Indeesh Mukhopadhyay Person-to-Person Giving and Inequalities in Post-Disaster Recoveries
• Eric Alston and Ryan Lewis, Making Water Markets More Liquid? – Institutional Resilience to Weather Shocks
• Sabrina Volpone, Exploring the Use of Identity Management during the Grief Process in Employees Who Have Experienced Pregnancy Loss

CESR Research Fellowship Grants 2021

• Sabrina D Volpone, Am I Committed to Addressing Racism? It May Depend on If My Organization Is Sincere about Racial Justice
• Joshua Steven Nunziato, The Risks and Rewards of Serotonergic Psychedelics for the Ethical Formation of Business Leaders
• Tony Cookson, Love, Politics, and Money: The Consequences of Intra-Family Partisan Disagreement
• Asaf Bernstein, Wealth Inequality: The Role of the “Mortgage Piggy Bank”
• Jonathan Rogers, Socially Responsible Investors and Firm Political Contributions