Sara Walton
Senior Lecturer
Management
University of Otago
New Zealand
Biography
Dr Sara Walton is a senior lecturer in the area of business, sustainability and the natural environment. Her research includes; examining ecopreneurial businesses in New Zealand, social enterprise and for-benefit organisations, business responses to climate change, understanding natural resource based conflicts and analysing triple bottom line (TBL) company reports and constructions of sustainability. Sara is part of the MBIE funded Energy Cultures team at Otago where she leads the work streams researching SME’s energy and transport practices. Sara is leading the Lighting Vanuatu project, funded by AusAID within the Vanuatu Governance for Growth (GfG) Program. It commenced in June 2010 with the objective of accelerating the conversion of rural Vanuatu households from kerosene-based lighting to affordable, safe, and reliable solar-charged LED lighting. The project aimed to distribute a minimum of 24,000 picoâ€solar products, with particular focus on those households with no access to electricity, and particularly those located outside the major population centres of Port Vila on Efate, and the Luganville area on the island of Espiritu Santo. A team from Otago University, funded by AusAid, with Dr Sara Walton as PI is working with David Swete-Kelly an independent consultant/evaluator to evaluate and research the adoption of the change in lighting technologies. The team, stemming from the Energy Cultures group here at Otago, also consists of Drs Rebecca Ford and Adam Doering plus Cle-Anne Gabriel, a PhD candidate in renewable energies in the Department of Management. They particpated in the in-country 'mission' of two weeks where they visited a variety of villages, many remote, to see the way in which the lights have been adopted.
Research Interest
Examining ecopreneurial businesses in New Zealand Social enterprise and for-benefit organisations Business responses to climate change Understanding natural resource based conflicts and analysing triple bottom line (TBL) company reports Constructions of sustainability
