The 2026 Bath Business, Organisations and Society Symposium, hosted by CBOS, invites scholars to critically examine the just transition, focusing on the intersections of climate change, human rights and business.

We seek contributions that advance theoretical understanding, offer empirical insights and explore practical implications for how businesses can navigate the complex terrain of ensuring that sustainability transitions respect, protect and fulfil human rights. 

The symposium will be an opportunity to make new connections across disciplines and thematic areas of research, to develop new research ideas, and find inspiration in generating impactful new knowledge.   

Submissions are welcomed from researchers  in any discipline who are interested in just transition and business. 

Papers ideally will focus specifically on the intersection of business, human rights and climate. However, we also welcome submissions that focus only on business and human rights or only on business and climate, with a view to building connections between research and researchers in these two fields.  

Read the full call for papers.

The conference will mainly take place in person at the University of Bath School of Management, with select sessions offered online. The programme will include dedicated feedback sessions for submitted papers; keynote presentations; research and practice panels; mentoring sessions; structured networking and workshop sessions; and social time.

Submissions should include:

• Extended abstracts (1,000–1,500 words) for individual paper presentations
• Title page with: (a) your paper title, (b) author(s) details (name, affiliation, email), (c) your mode of participation (online or in-person)
• Clear articulation of research questions, theoretical framing, and methods (where applicable)
• Key findings or expected contributions

Please submit all materials as a single PDF file named “Surname_BBOSS26” and email it to bboss@bath.ac.uk with “BBOSS 2026 Submission” in the subject line.

Special Issue

A special of the Journal of Business Ethics on “Business, Human Rights Abuses, and the Climate Crisis: Towards Integrated Responses”, edited by Martijn Boersma, Andrew Crane, Surya Deva, and Bethany Jackson will follow the BBOSS symposium.  

The deadline for submissions to the special issue will be 1 February 2027, and there will be a hybrid information session on the special issue with the editors during BBOSS 2026.

Key Dates

• Submission deadline: 16 March 2026
• Notification of acceptance: 31 March 2026
• Registration opens: 31 March 2026
• Registration closes: 18 April 2026
  
• Symposium dates: 19 -20 May 2026

• Andrew Crane, awc26@bath.ac.uk
• Friederike Döbbe, fd534@bath.ac.uk
• Vivek Soundararajan, vs602@bath.ac.uk