Jill Timms

I am a full time Senior Lecturer in the School for Strategy and Leadership and an Associate of the Centre for Busines in Society, both in the Faculty of Business and Law. I gained my PhD from London School of Economic (LSE), titled ‘Where responsibility lies: Corporate social responsibility and campaigns for the rights of workers in a global economy’. I have a Masters of Social Science from University College Dublin (UCD), and a BA (Hons) in Business Administration and Sociology and Social Anthropology from Keele University. In 1999 I began teaching at the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, and have held posts at Brunel University, LSE, Queen Mary University, Imperial College, the Foundation for International Education and UCD. Between 2001-2011 I contributed to the Global Civil Society Project at LSE. I joined the committee of the Global Studies Association 2008-2012 and am now Co-Convenor of the Work, Employment and Economic Life (WEEL) Special Interest Group for 2017-2020, of the British Sociology Association (BSA). 

My current projects focus on the ethical profile and legacy of mega-events (as part of CARNiVAL at the Centre for Business in Society), and on certification and ethical consumerism in the cut flower industry. I am also involved in a project supporting PhD research in the UK.

I am a sociologist of work and organisations, with a longstanding interest in how notions of responsibility are understood within globalising capitalism. I am particularly interested in responsibilities to workers, such as those in complex global supply chains; private social standards, such as fair trade; and the role of different groups, such as consultants, campaigners, governments and consumers, in determining agendas of corporate social responsibility (CSR). My research aims to further our understanding of the dynamic business-society relationship, and to draw attention to the consequences of globalising processes for how work is experienced.