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LEADINGPRACTIONERJOINSLEEDSUNIVERSITYBUSINESSSCHOOL

Visiting Professor shares expertise with LUBS employment relations research centre

Leading practitioner in employment relations, Ed Sweeney, has been welcomed as a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change (CERIC) at Leeds University Business School (LUBS).

Professor EdSweeney, current Chair of Acas - an organisation which aims to improve working life through better employment relations – joined CERIC in August 2008. His position will be renewable on an annual basis.

Previously, Professor Sweeney held the post of General Secretary of the Banking Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU) before being elected as General Secretary of UNIFI, the financial trade union. Once UNIFI merged with Amicus, Britain’s largest private sector union, Professor Sweeney was appointed as Deputy General Secretary.

He previously held the posts of Chair of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) International Development Group, Joint Chair of the TUC/ Department for International Development (DfID) forum, Member of the TUC General Council and TUC Executive Committee, as well as a number of other roles in the sector.

Professor Mark Stuart, Director of CERIC, said: “We are extremely pleased to have Professor Sweeney join CERIC as a visiting professor. He holds an extremely high profile position in the field of employment relations and I’m sure his knowledge and expertise will be of great benefit to everyone involved in the Centre.”

Ed Sweeney, Acas Chair, said: “I am delighted to be joining CERIC in such a valuable role. The world of employment relations is constantly evolving and I am looking forward to contributing to the excellent research of the Centre and LeedsUniversity.”

CERIC is an ambitious research initiative based at LUBS which draws on the expertise of internationally renowned scholars, and aims to create a vibrant environment for established, doctoral and visiting researchers. Through high quality teaching, research and knowledge transfer, CERIC aims to contribute to national and International debates around the changing dynamics and the future of work, employment and labour markets. The Centre is committed to developing new strategic and policy-relevant visions and Professor Sweeney will input to the agenda changing debates the Centre is looking to establish.

Professor Sweeney will deliver the Inaugural Annual CERIC Public Lecture in Employment Relations in early 2009.

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For further information contact:

Professor Mark Stuart, Director of CERIC

Tel:07796 953896Email:

Lou Owen, Communications, Acas,

Tel: 020 72103920 Email:

Editors Notes

About CERIC

The Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change (CERIC) is an ambitious research initiative based at the University of Leeds, which draws from the expertise of internationally renowned scholars at LeedsUniversityBusinessSchool and the Faculty of Social Sciences. The Centre aims to create a vibrant research environment incorporating established, doctoral and visiting researchers.

Through high-quality research, teaching and knowledge transfer, the Centre aims to contribute to contemporary national and international debates around the changing dynamics and future of work, employment and labour markets.

The Centre’s research is broadly concerned with examining the modernisation of employment relations, and how processes of organisational restructuring and innovation shape patterns of continuity and change in employment relations. It evaluates the consequences of such change for different stakeholders and is committed to developing new strategic and policy relevant visions.

CERIC has been formally designated by the University of Leeds as one of its Peak centres of research excellence.

For further information see

About LUBS

LeedsUniversityBusinessSchoolis among the leading UK university-based business schools and continues to grow in size and reputation. The school is full-range, teaching more than 1,500 undergraduate and 500 postgraduate students from more than 50 countries.

It has its own faculty and its own high reputation for research. LUBS also has a history of successful partnerships with industry and commerce at local, national and international levels.

Members of the Faculty are at the forefront of major developments in basic and applied research across the fields of Business, Management, Accounting, Finance and Economics and Employment Relations.

Senior staff have held leadership positions and committee membership and advised major policy-making bodies and learned societies. These include the Academy of International Business, the Academy of Management, the Economic and Social Research Council's Training and Development and Research Grants Boards and the BritishAcademy of Management.

Key achievements for LUBS include:

  • Leeds University Business school is ranked 48th in the world's top 100 business schools (source: Financial Times Global MBA 2008)
  • Ranked 52nd in the world (Which MBA? Economist 2007)
  • EQUIS and AMBA accredited.
  • CIPD accredited and ESRC recognized.

The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK with more than 30,000 students from 130 countries. With a turnover of £450m, Leeds is one of the top ten research universities in the UK, and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. It was recently placed 80th in the Times Higher Educational Supplement's world universities league table and the University's vision is to secure a place among the world's top 50 by 2015.

About Acas

Acas aims to improve organisations and working life through better employment relations. They provide independent advice and guidance, high quality training and work with employers and employees to solve problems and improve performance.

Employers are also offered more specialised services, including training, workplace projects, conciliation and mediation.

Founded in 1975, Acas has over 30 years' experience of working with people in organisations of every size and type. Although largely funded by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform(BERR), Acas is a non-departmental body, governed by an independent Council, which allows them to be independent, impartial and confidential.

For further information see