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The two-day workshop will bring together scholars and practitioners to explore the emerging field of regenerative business. The workshop will support knowledge exchange, identify future research directions, and build a collaborative community around regenerative business.

With seven of the nine planetary boundaries now exceeding safe operating spaces, the risk of irreversible environmental changes is rapidly increasing.

It is no longer sufficient for companies to be sustainable. There is urgent need for businesses to move beyond sustainability towards regenerative models that actively enhance the health of the natural and social systems.

The workshop will explore the following themes:

Theme 1: Why Regenerative Business? Why now?
Theme 2: How might Regenerative Business happen?
Theme 3: Co-creating Regenerative futures

Agenda

Speakers

Professor John Elkington

John is Co-Founder & Chief Pollinator at Volans, and is one of the founders of the global sustainability movement, an experienced advisor to business, and a highly regarded keynote speaker and contributor, from conferences to advisory boards. John has written and co-authored 20 books, including the Cannibals with Forks in which he coined the term Triple Bottom line. In 2009, a CSR International survey of the Top 100 CSR leaders placed John fourth.

Professor Steve Evans

Steve is Director of Research in Industrial Sustainability at University of Cambridge. He leads research that seeks to deliver knowledge concerning sustainable change at scale, including programmes in sustainable digitalisation, sustainable business model innovation, system transformation, the limits of efficiency and sustainable policy making in developing countries. He has over 30 years of academic experience which includes working collaboratively with leading industrial and academic institutions from around the globe. He has been Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee and is a serial clean-tech start-up founder.

James Payne

James is a leading business sustainability practitioner, with a particular interest in how business can be a force for both social justice and regeneration. As lead author of ‘A Compass for Just and Regenerative Business' he has been at the forefront of highlighting more effective ways for business leaders to think and act given the ever greater volatility and disruption in their operating contexts. In his current role at sustainability non-profit, Forum for the Future, he leads their work engaging executive teams on the visionary leadership called for from them this decade, at this critical inflection point for our civilisation. He has led sustainability strategy development for businesses as diverse as Diageo, Target and Eicher Motors. His career spans over two decades in industry, consultancy and NGO roles.

Martin Rich

Martin is a sustainability and impact specialist with nearly 30 years’ experience in both mainstream and social investment. Following a successful career in international finance working for UBS, JPMorgan, HSBC and Social Finance Ltd, he co-founded Future-Fit Foundation with a vision to create a truly sustainable future for all. He now works on the cutting-edge of regenerative business and new economic thinking, helping companies and financial institutions of all sizes address the radical transformation that the future demands of their business models.

Martin is a non-executive director and advisory committee member for a range of organisations, including Foresight Group, North Star Transition and CERSIA CIC. He is also formerly the Senior Independent Director of the UK Government’s Access Foundation and a member of the Asset Allocation Working Group for the G7 Social Investment Task Force.

Martin holds Master’s degrees with First and Distinction in Engineering from Queens’ College, Cambridge University.

Ben Kellard

Ben is a Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership & Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity

He educates and advises senior business leaders on how to align their purpose and strategy with the transition to a sustainable economy. His clients include boards and executive teams of large multi-national companies in a range of industries from food to construction and consumer goods.

He was on the steering committee for the first national standard for a sustainable purpose-driven organisation, that is now becoming an international standard.

He is currently working independently with global thought leaders and representatives of business, finance and government to co-create a narrative for a new economy that serves people and the planet. This is intended to help leaders to see the urgent need to transform the economy and find their place in it.

He draws on over twenty years of experience as an organisational development consultant, eleven of which were with the international not-for-profit Forum for the Future.

Professor Miying Yang

Miying is a Professor of Sustainability at Â鶹Íø. She holds a PhD degree from the Centre for Industrial Sustainability at University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on how to make manufacturing more sustainable and regenerative through digital technologies and business model innovation. Miying has received grants from EPSRC, ESRC, STFC, Royal Society and EU COST, and has published paper in leading journals, including Nature Reviews Clean Technology. She developed a Sustainable Value Analysis Tool to help over 100 firms identify their sustainable value opportunities.

Luisa Huaccho Huatuco

Luisa is Professor of Operations Management at the University of York, UK, where she leads the research cluster on: "Climate resilience and green transition in global value creation". Her research interests include sustainable supply chains, management of disruptions to distribution/logistics, high value manufacturing and complexity in the supply chain. She has published extensively and obtained grants from UK and European funders. Her research work has been carried out with industrial collaborators, including: B&K, Kingkraft, Eminox, Union Industries, Clariant UK plc, Sulzer Pumps, ALPLA and Graphic plc.

Professor Minna Lammi

Minna is Professor of Sustainability at Anglia Ruskin University, where her work focuses on how businesses and societies can move beyond sustainability toward truly regenerative practices. Her expertise spans circular economy, regenerative and sustainable business models, consumer acceptance, and systemic transition processes. Professor Lammi has worked at the forefront of circular economy research, exploring how value can be created while restoring social and ecological systems. She is particularly interested in how businesses, policymakers, and citizens can co create change, and frequently uses participatory and deliberative approaches in her research and engagement activities. Holding the title of Docent in Political Science (University of Helsinki) and Communication Studies (University of Vaasa), she brings a strong systems and governance perspective to regenerative business discussions.

Attendance options

• Day 1: online only (10:30-12:30, 30 June)
• Day 2: online only (10:30-12:30, 1 July)
• Both mornings online
• Day 1: in-person only (10:30-16:30, 30 June)
• Day 2: in-person only (10:30-16:30, 1 July)
• Both days in-person

Note: if you attend both days, in-person, you will be eligible to apply for EU COST travel funding, available for up to 25 participants.

Registration deadlines

Registration for in-person ends on 15 June 2026
Registration for online only ends on 26 June 2026

Apply for EU Cost Funding

Participants attending both days in person may be considered for EU COST travel funding (up to 25 participants), subject to eligibility and available budget.

Application requirements

Applicants (excluding invited speakers/facilitators) who wish to attend the workshop in person are requested to submit the following to Miying Yang (Miying.Yang@cranfield.ac.uk) by 29 May:

(1) A short application addressing the following questions:

• What motivates you to attend the workshop in person?
• Please briefly describe your relevant expertise, experience, or research interests related to regenerative business and/or related fields.
• How do you hope to contribute to the workshop? What perspectives, experiences, or ideas would you like to share, and what do you hope to learn from others?

(2) CV

Selection criteria

Due to limited capacity, in-person participation will be selected based on:

• The relevance of applicants’ interests, expertise, or experience to regenerative business, sustainability assessment, circular economy, sustainable production, business model innovation, and related fields;
• The potential contribution of applicants to workshop discussions, including the perspectives, experiences, methods, or case studies they can share;
• The applicant’s motivation to participate in person and engage actively throughout the workshop;
• The aim of creating a diverse, interdisciplinary, and collaborative group of participants, including diversity in career stage, discipline, sector, institution, and geographical background;
• Eligibility for COST support, where travel funding is requested.

The application will be assessed by the COST Action 23157 panel, and the successful candidates will be invited by the Grand Holder Manager.

Important dates

Application deadline: 29 May 2026
Notification of selection: 4 June 2026

Accommodation

On-site accommodation is available at either Â鶹Íø Management Development Centre: cmdcresrvations@cranfield.ac.uk or Mitchell Hall: mhsales@cranfield.ac.uk.

Photography

We may take photographs and/or videos at the physical event, which may be used in general promotional material recording or relating to the event, including use with websites, emails, social media and tangible literature. If you have any concerns relating to this, please contact the events coordinator Ms Mel King (mel.king@cranfield.ac.uk) at the event.

Acknowledgement

The event is supported by COST Action CA23157 - European Network for Multiple View Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (MultiViewLCSA), funded by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).