News

VISITING PROFESSOR MICHAEL JEFFERSON

Thursday 18 February 2010

During the Spring Term we will have the honour of having Michael Jefferson teaching a new course in Global Business to the MA in Global Affairs students at the Department of Economics and International Studies here at the University. Mr Jefferson studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford, where he completed his BA and MA. He was Chief Economist at the Royal Dutch Shell Group for over five years. After that he became Head of Planning, Europe; Head of Supply, Europe; Director of Oil Supply and Trading, Scandinavia; Head of Oil Pricing, Shell International Supply & Marketing; and Head of Business Environment, Shell UK. He worked as a Lead Consultant for the G8 Renewable Energy Task Force. After that Mr Jefferson became an Energy & Environmental Consultant. Currently he is a Committee Member on the Sustainable Energy Committee and the UN Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. Mr Jefferson was Deputy Secretary General of the World Energy Council 1990-1999. He is currently a visiting professor at the Centre for International Business and Sustainability at the London Metropolitan Business School.

The new Global Business course will provide practical insights into the past performance, modern operations and future planning of trans-national companies, drawing on Mr Jefferson's first-hand experience of international companies and inter-governmental institutions. The course will add a new dimension to the MA in Global Affairs programme and provide useful insights for students who may want to join a TNC, or become diplomats, staff members of international organisations or civil society organisations. Mr Jefferson's course will explore what such companies have done, what they have failed to do, and what they could usefully do now, faced with an uncertain future.

Those who remember Mr Jefferson's seminar at the University in 2009 will know that the MA students are in for some fascinating sessions.

Report by the Department of Economics & International Studies and the Web Team