Centre for Business Ethics and Sustainability hosts International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry Conference 2024

'Ethics and the Role of Organisational, Political and Spiritual Leadership in Overcoming the Conflicts of Modernity' was the theme of this year's conference, which included keynote lectures from distinguished speakers and colloquia seminar sessions where conference attendees could present their papers to an engaged audience.

Organised by Professor Kleio Akrivou, Director of the CBES, and Dr Matthew Sinnicks, Associate Professor in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at the University of Southampton, more than 50 members of ISME, an organisation dedicated to discussing, exploring and identifying the theoretical and practical pursuit of the human good in areas ranging from philosophy, social sciences and business, attended.

The first keynote lecture was delivered by Professor Sophie Grace Chappell, Professor of Philosophy at the Open University, on the topic of 'Irreversible Enlightenments: a Reading of Plato's Meno'. The subsequent keynote lectures were on the topics of 'Humanomics: a MacIntyrean Offshoot' and 'MacIntyre, the Concept of a Practice and the Development of a Canon in Political Philosophy', delivered by Professor Deirdre Nansen McCloskey (Isiah Berlin Chair in Liberal Though at the Cato Institute, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Economics and History and Professor Emerita of English and Communication at the University of Illinois, USA) and Professor Jonathan Wolff (Fellow of the British Academy, Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and Governing Body Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford) respectively.

The conference was also interspersed with opportunities to explore the Whiteknights campus' beautiful Harris Gardens, before wrapping up with a fine dining experience at the Meadow Suite. Many attendees commented how insightful and well-organised they felt the conference had been, with plans already in progress to host the next ISME conference in 2025 in the USA.

Speaking after the conference, Professor Akrivou commented: "I am delighted that the fruitful ISME Conference 2024 and its excellent presentations and colloquia had such an international scope, including so many diverse voices. As both an ISME member and the 2024 Conference Secretary on the Central Committee, and on behalf of the University of Reading and Henley Business School's Centre for Business Ethics and Sustainability, I am very pleased with the diversity and thought-provoking contributions and academic exchanges on the theme 'Ethics and the Role of Organisational, Political and Spiritual Leadership in Overcoming the Conflicts of Modernity'.

The attendance of numerous first-year ISME early career researchers, alongside experienced tenured academics, underscores the fantastic work presented and the relevance of neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics applied in management, organisational and public life. This also highlights the exceptional organisational support from my colleagues involved in co-ordinating this international conference at the university, ISME and beyond."