Imperial College is partnering with Citi to create a new research centre focussed on responsible business leadership and technological change.

The Centre for Responsible Leadership will help businesses and organisations identify practices that improve their approach to business leadership and boost performance through study of disruptive technologies, data privacy rights and ethical decision making.

The research conducted at the centre will draw on academic theory and business practice, aiming to address the key economic, social, environmental and technological challenges facing organisations today.

These challenges include how companies need to rethink the way they conduct business following the COVID-19 crisis, the role of leadership in mitigating damage to the environment, and how leaders can provide opportunities to increase diversity in their employment practices.

The centre aims to help leaders leverage the opportunities made available through digital transformation, including the use of machine learning, blockchain and robotics.

Naveed Sultan, global head of treasury and trade solutions at Citi, said: “Our experience of the financial crisis has provided us with valuable lessons for how firms can survive a major crisis by adopting a more ethical approach to leadership - it also helps contribute to the broader ESG agenda, which is of increasing importance for all organisations."

The research will draw on data from the new Leonardo Centre at Imperial College Business School and it will work with the World Economic Forum. The centre’s remit also includes the creation of a new development programme for both senior executives and future business leaders.

David Gann, director of the Centre for Responsible Leadership at Imperial College Business School, said: “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for more responsible leaders has never been greater, as companies, government and organisations are forced to re-think their whole operations, from their style of leadership to the role they play in the wider community."

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