Corporate Responsibility Research Conference 2025 in Paris, France

The 21st Corporate Responsibility Research Conference (CRRC) took place on 29–31 October 2025 at ESCP Business School’s Paris Montparnasse campus. CRRC has featured on the project researchers’ conference schedules for several years, and this year a group of our researchers once again attended, delivering several presentations.

A conference dedicated to CSR and corporate sustainability

CRRC is the longest-running academic conference on CSR and corporate sustainability, and the conference theme for 2025 was “Planetary Boundaries and the Sustainability Transition: The Great Disconnect?”. Beyond the conference theme, CRRC welcomes diverse presentations and features several recurring tracks. This is very inviting for us scholars since we know that there are ongoing discussions related to our research themes on stakeholder engagement, biodiversity in business, and of course sustainability in business more broadly. In fact, Action4Commons researchers have chaired conference tracks in the conference, and also this year Anna Hannula chaired a track “Stakeholder engagement for sustainability”.

Food for thought: Conference presentations

Over the two conference days, we enjoyed inspiring and high-quality presentations from both senior scholars as well as doctoral students. In particular, I was amazed by the doctoral student presentations since they were very advanced theoretically, conceptually clear as well as methodologically strong. With such strong doctoral students, the field of CSR and sustainability will continue its expansion!

Our presentations also received valuable feedback, suggestions for improvement, and sparked lively discussions. Mining and biodiversity enhancement is a complex issue. Finland and other Nordic countries are relatively progressive in addressing mining’s environmental effects, yet significant challenges remain, as mining inevitably causes environmental and social harm.

Our group delivered altogether six research presentations on stakeholder theory and collective action, stakeholder engagement for sustainability, addressing biodiversity in  business-stakeholder relationships, biodiversity performance, managers’ biodiversity attitudes, and nonhuman nature stakeholders. The conference programme can be accessed here: https://www.crrconference.org/previous-conferences/crrc-2025/programme/

Food for the body: The conference dinner

For me, the conference dinner is always a highlight. This relaxed, informal event offers a chance to reconnect with old friends, meet new ones, and enjoy good food and drink. It also includes the best paper awards and the announcement of the next venue: Marrakech, Morocco, in October 2026!

Why I recommend CRRC

-            CRRC is an excellent place to connect with CSR and sustainability scholars and receive feedback on your work. Its manageable size (around 60–80 participants) and many returning attendees foster a close-knit community.

-            The conference offers a friendly, constructive setting for discussing research at any stage, from early drafts to publication-ready papers.

-            The PhD Day gives doctoral researchers space to discuss thesis-related issues, while presenting in the main conference provides further opportunities for feedback.

-            The conference dinner is another highlight!