FAQs
What is the Corporate Affairs Academy?
In 2011, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, created the Corporate Affairs Academy, a research-led programme for leading global corporate affairs professionals interested in developing greater insights and shared best practice.
Seated within the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, this invitation-only annual academy programme focuses on reputation thinking and engagement combined with functional and professional development and has hosted over 120 leading professionals from Asia, Australasia, China, Russia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Scandinavia and the Americas.
Who are GlobeScan and what do they do?
GlobeScan is a global insights and advisory consultancy working at the intersection of brand purpose, sustainability, and trust. We partner with leading businesses, NGOs, and governmental organizations to deliver insights that guide decision-making and build strategies that contribute to a sustainable and equitable future. Established in 1987, we have offices in Cape Town, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, and Toronto. GlobeScan is a participant of the UN Global Compact and a Certified B Corporation.
In 2016, GlobeScan, launched a platform of research and engagement among leading corporate affairs directors that culminated in an annual Corporate Affairs Survey.
What is the Oxford-GlobeScan Global Corporate Affairs Partnership?
Oxford and GlobeScan have formalised a partnership to leverage their combined expertise and to ensure that research and academic programmes are as informative and actionable as possible.
The primary purpose of the partnership is to generate valuable, actionable research findings for organisations, senior executives and corporate affairs leaders to improve the impact of the corporate affairs function.
Oxford and GlobeScan will do this by engaging and sharing new thinking and practices that would empower the corporate affairs community, the media, fellow researchers and others through a regular “pulse” of novel, timely and data-driven insights about the evolution of the corporate affairs function and its agenda.
What is the Global Corporate Affairs Council?
The Oxford-GlobeScan Global Corporate Affairs partnership is actively building a community of leading corporate affairs professionals to help shape and guide this global research programme. Leading professionals across the globe and all sectors will be invited to join the Global Corporate Affairs Council, each representing a centre of excellence in the area they are primarily located.
The role of the Global Corporate Affairs Council will be to advise Oxford and GlobeScan on the aims, focus and scope of the global corporate affairs research project annually and to help the research programme identify and engage with other leading professionals in support of the research aims.
What are the benefits of joining the Global Corporate Affairs Council?
The benefits of joining the Global Corporate Affairs Council will give members access to an exclusive online community to share ideas and practices that will assist participants to continually improve their individual and collective performance.
Members will be able to engage with peers and other stakeholders within an industry community and will receive an early presentation of the annual research study findings.
Additional member benefits include:
- receipt of relevant Oxford and GlobeScan research and publication materials
- attendance at invitation-only meetings of the Global Corporate Affairs Council
- visible association with the Oxford-GlobeScan programme and brand
Global Council members will act as ambassadors for the partnership and the insights generated.
What are Discussion Forums?
With the primary purpose of the partnership being to generate valuable, actionable research findings for organisations, senior executives and corporate affairs leaders to improve the impact of the corporate affairs function, we will invite council members to come together for online, text-based, discussion forums to explore the roles, responsibilities, challenges, opportunities and themes facing leading global corporate affairs professionals around the world.
Some of these will be live, moderated online discussions scheduled for a set date and time. Other online discussions may be longer term, ongoing discussions where council members can participate at their own convenience.
What should I expect from a live, online, moderated Discussion Forum?
The forums are real-time, text-based online conversations that provide the opportunity for council members from around the world to come together to discuss and collaborate on a specific topic.
These conversations take place in a dedicated, secure online space and are moderated by GlobeScan with a panel of guest contributors focusing on strategic questions to explore the roles, responsibilities, challenges, opportunities and themes facing leading global corporate affairs professionals around the world.
These forums typically consist of two 90-minute sessions on one day to ensure maximum geographic and time zone coverage.
Participants should expect a fast-paced and wide-ranging discussion as people from around the world add their perspectives in real-time. GlobeScan also helps participants keep up with the debate by moderating and summarizing the main points raised on a whiteboard on the right hand of your computer screen.
Will there be an audio dial in facility?
The live, online, moderated discussion forums are solely text-based.
We believe the text format of the online moderated discussions – similar to a Reddit-style discussion board but with a faster flow of comments and engagement – enables these conversations to be inclusive, open and democratic since anyone can contribute, reply and raise new issues.
Participants can follow others' comments and choose the sections or questions that they engage in.