News/Events
NOVEMBER 2024
27th November - Jan is the head of the assessment committee for the thesis "Capacity Building to Operationalise Urban Resilience Transition" by Katarzyna Alicja Wieszczeczynska from SDU.
20th November - New Publication by Jan Vang and Co-Authors: We are pleased to share the latest publication, co-authored by Jan Vang, titled "Exploring the Impact of University-Driven Supplier Development Interventions on Supplier Performance: A Case of the Garment Industry." The study, conducted in collaboration with Seyed Pendar Toufighi, Kannan Govindan, Min Zar Ni Lin, and Amanda Bille, examines how university-driven initiatives can enhance supplier capabilities and improve performance in Myanmar’s garment industry. By applying Lean principles and advanced analytical methods, the research highlights the critical role of targeted capability development in achieving sustainable supplier growth. This work contributes valuable insights to the field of sustainable supply chain management.
15th November - Jan is a member of Innovation Fund Denmark. He participated in the biannual meeting, which is responsible for assessing industrial PhD applications.
10th November - Jan is a member of the PhD thesis titled "Leadership Behaviours for Adopting Lean and Green Practices in Indonesian Logistics Firms" by Nissa Syifa Puspani from Twente University.
SEPTEMBER 2024
9th-10th September - Jan is scheduled to deliver a keynote presentation at the forthcoming “Health in the Anthropocene” workshop, organized by the University of Florence, Italy. The keynote is entitled "Reimagining Futures of Health Research in the Global South: Insights from Ethnographic Interventions Research at the Bottom of Supply Chain Pyramids”. For more details, please visit https://www.disei.unifi.it/vp-651-program.html.
3rd September - Jan, along with Seyed Pendar Toufighi, Kannan Govindan, Min Zar Ni Lin, and Amanda Bille, co-authored a paper titled "Exploring the Impact of University-Driven Supplier Development Interventions on Supplier Performance: A Case Study of the Garment Industry." This paper has been accepted in the International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.
AUGUST 2024
Jan, along with Seyed Pendar Toufighi, Iman Ghasemian Sahebi, Kannan Govindan, Min Zar Ni Lin, and Annalisa Brambini, published a paper titled "Participative Leadership, Cultural Factors, and Speaking-Up Behavior: An Examination of Intra-Organizational Knowledge Sharing" in the Journal of Innovation & Knowledge.
MAJ 2024
31st Maj - The paper "Thriving whilst surviving: Exploring the prevailing discourse of decent work", co-authored by Jan, has been accepted for presentation at the EurOMA 2024 Annual Conference on July 1-4, 2024, in Barcelona, Spain.
11th Maj - Jan and colleagues are organizing a workshop with 60-70 industry participants on how to simultaneously enhance social sustainability and productivity among garment industry suppliers. The agenda can be found here.
10th Maj - Jan and colleagues are publishing a guidebook in Burmese on how to implement 5S to enhance social sustainability and productivity among local garment suppliers. You can find an extract of the guidebook here.
3rd Maj - Jan's Danish article on his new research project regarding plastic waste and supply chains is featured in Plast Panorama: https://ipaper.ipapercms.dk/TechMedia/PlastPanorama/2024/2/?page=24
MARCH 2024
5th-7th March - Jan is a keynote speaker, presenter, and discussant at the BASCAP analytical workshop in Denmark from March 5-7. He discusses the future of social audits for global suppliers in the digital era.
1st-5th March - Jan and his partners planned a field experiment to examine how meeting buyers could affect farmers' willingness to sell coffee flowers as a new product. The experiment is scheduled in Uganda from March 1st to March 5th.
FEBRUARY 2024
Jan will present a research paper titled "Intervention-based Research for Grand Societal Challenges in the Context of the Globalizing Learning Economy" at the upcoming 2024 RSA Annual Conference. The conference will be held in Florence, Italy, from June 11th to June 14th. Additionally, Jan and Bjørn Asheim will organize a panel discussion at the same conference to discuss theorizing sustainability without engaging in concept stretching.
9th February - Jan has become a certified drone pilot.
JANUARY 2024
12th January - Jan presents his paper “Designing Drone-based Sustainable Supplier Innovation in the Global South” at the 7th Geography of Innovation Conference GEOINNO 2024, organized by the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, which takes place at The University of Manchester on 10th – 12th January 2024.
2nd January - Jan is the project leader of a pioneering project titled "Plastic Waste and Climate Change in Bangladesh's Garment Industry." The 5-years project is funded by the Danida Fellowship Center (DFC) for a total budget of 1.5 million euros and conducted by the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in partnership with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. The project implies a significant leap forward in addressing plastic waste and climate change challenges within Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry. Together, we are shaping a more sustainable and resilient future.
JUNE 2023
14th-16th June - Jan presents two papers on Global Innovation Networks (GIN), Sustainability and the Global South at the 2023 Regional Studies Association Annual Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia. The papers zoom in on two different themes. One focuses on the need for using the concept of GINs, the other on the overlooked role of woman entrepreneurs in the field.
12th June - Jan is part of the team at SDU that has been granted funding for making an elite climate research center.
MARCH 2023
The German DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) has awarded a consortium where Jan Vang is a member of a sizeable grant to turn waste into value in Uganda.
The project focuses on the coffee flower (currently ‘wasted’) and how it can be transformed into value while ensuring that the local agricultural production systems are improved (i.e., introducing regenerative farming and entrepreneurial training).
The project covers research and training about farmers and their competencies in leveraging the potentials of the coffee flower (with particular attention paid to women and youth as well as entrepreneurship), the introduction of AI-based drones that can communicate with the Danish company Fasterholt’s precision irrigation machines, design of an efficient supply chain that ensures local value capture and development of new products based on the coffee flower. The partners are PAD&T, Fasterholt, Brian Mark (Michelin chef), AAU, NARO, and SDU.
The project starts in March 2023 and runs for three years. The project relies on intervention-based research to ensure groundbreaking scientific results and practical relevance.
FEBRUARY 2023
9th February - Jan is guest speaker at the training course “Engagement, Influencing and Impact training” for Danida supported researchers, help their research having greater impact with the stakeholders the researchers are trying to reach. In particular, Jan will be responsible for the session “Engaging the right people with the right message”.
DECEMBER 2022
18th December - The GSP section is responsible for establishing a Task force that can help Bangladesh overcoming their sustainability challenges. Task force meeting: “Solving Bangladesh’s future challenges in the context of global supply chains. A Triple Helix approach to collaboration between industry, government and universities”.
14-15th December - The Global Sustainable Production section organises a global workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, about how to address global sustainability challenges: “Solving Bangladesh’s future challenges in the context of global supply chains A Triple Helix approach to collaboration between industry, government, and universities”. The workshop is financed by Danida.
NOVEMBER 2022
18th November - RESEARCH TALK: GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS. The SDU Global Sustainable Production (GSP) section hosts a research seminar with Prof. Veronica Villena, Arizona State University.
OCTOBER 2022
13th October - RESEARCH TALK: PARADOX MANAGEMENT. Jan interviewed Prof. Wendy Smith, University of Delaware, about new directions in paradox research and how paradox research can inform research about sustainability.
SEPTEMBER 2022
22-24th September - Jan presented his research about whether/how multi-stakeholder initiatives can contribute to solving grand societal challenges at the 16th Regional Innovation Policies conference in Padua, Italy.
8th September - RESEARCH TALKS: SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN. AN OVERVIEW. Jan organized a SDU workshop with Professor Donna Marshall, Univerity College Dublin, on Sustainable Supply Chains Management.
JUNE 2022
22nd June - Jan had the pleasure of giving a short lecture at the DFC-financed course on Urban resilience organized by, among others, his good friend Nicola Tollin from SDU. Jan introduced how spatial and urban planning should be better integrated into supply chain studies and vice versa—an exciting group to talk to: architects and urban planners from all over the world.
15th June - RESEARCH TALKS: PARTICIPATORY METHODS. Jan organized a SDU workshop with Prof. Jaqui Goldin, University of the Western Cape, about participatory methods.
9th June - Jan had the pleasure of speaking to researchers on new Danida projects. He explained how digitalization can contribute to making better co-creation with stakeholders.
2nd June - RESEARCH TALKS: SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT. Jan organised an e-talk with Prof. Wendy Tate, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is a globally renowned professor in sustainable supply chains. The talk focused on supplier diversity and circularity, purchasing and sustainability.
Jan received funding for a new upstream supply chain and community development project in Uganda. The project entitled MUPAS has a focus on the transitions toward organic agroofood supply chains.
MAY 2022
18th May - RESEARCH TALKS: LOCISTIC AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT. Jan e-interviewed Prof. Stefan Seuring, Kassel University, Germany. He is a globally leading sustainability supply chain expert, about sustainable supply chains. The talk focused on how to advance theory through literature reviews in logistics and supply chain management.
1st May - Min Zar Ni Lin started as Jan's new PhD student. Zar Ni will work with the role of participation in improving OSH and productivity in global supply chains. He is part of Jan's project entitled ESAM, financed by DANIDA.
APRIL 2022
28th April - Jan participated in an EU expert workshop organized by the Lift-OSH project. This project, financed by EU-OSHA, looks into how or if private governance can help improve OSH in supply chains.
27th April - Jan visited SCAN-hide as part of his leather project in Myanmar, which looks at how to improve OSH and productivity among suppliers in the Bangladeshi leather industry. This company is the only one left in Denmark working with tanning.
MARCH 2022
31st March - Jan´s paper “Designing better interventions: insights from research of decent work”, published in the Journal of Supply Chain Management, is recognised as a highly cited and influential paper.
28th March - Jan presented his Global Sustainable Production (GSP) section and their research at Roskilde University.
28th March - Jan was part of the assessment committee at Roskilde University for Annenesofie Lindskov's PhD dissertation. Her dissertation is about the concept hyper-competition.
FEBRUARY 2022
27th February - Jan gave the opening remarks at a workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Jan is part of a Danish-Bangladeshi research group that will work on how to improve the sustainability of the local leather industry.
7th to 11th February - Jan run a five days Ph.d. course “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND GLOBAL PRODUCTION AND INNOVATION SYSTEMS: EXPLORING NEW RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES”. The lectures and the 30 Ph.D. students came from all over the world. https://phdcourses.dk/Course/86865
JANUARY 2022
21st January - Jan had the opportunity to share his thoughts about the collaborative university and how we reach a new type of collaboration between various stakeholders to create just sustainable transitions. https://www.sdu.dk/da/voresverdensmaal/vaeredygtighedskonference
DECEMBER 2021
Jan, together with his colleagues, drafted the report “Productivity, OHS, and Social Dialogue: Unpacking their connections based on an analysis of the MYPOD experience”. What are the main challenges pertaining to designing Lean based interventions that ensure simultaneous upgrading of productivity and OHS in Myanmar’s garment industry? What are the barriers concerning co creation between the different actors involved in the interventions? What is the role of social dialogue in ensuring that such interventions will deliver the desired results? These and similar questions inform this report.
3rd December - Together with David Hansen, Jan hold a lecture on how safety and participation could/should be integrated in research on robots, drones and automation at the Maersk department at SDU.
NOVEMBER 2021
Jan organized a new PhD course about SDGs/Sustainability and global production. Find the link here: https://phdcourses.dk/Course/86865
Together with co-authors, Jan published a new paper about teams and supplier development: Individuals' psychosocial voice barriers in lean problem-solving teams.
New paper published by Jan about standard setting processes: “Creating Legitimacy in the ISO/CEN Standard for Sustainable and Traceable Cocoa: An Exploratory Case Study Integrating Normative and Empirical Legitimacy”.
OCTOBER 2021
15th October - Jan presented a paper with coauthors about global multistakeholder initiatives and their coordination challenges at the workshop Global value chains and regional systems of innovation: Towards a critical juncture.
14th October - Jan hosted Acting Uganda’s ambassador to EU Olga Adnette Muzungu.
1st October - Jan organized a theme at SDU SDG Summit.
Jan Vang gave a Keynote on Stakeholder workshop about social auditing practices. He talked about the digital platform disruption of the conventional social audit market.
SEPTEMBER 2021
24th September - Jan participated in this SDG event about how universities and external stakeholders can collaborate about the SDGs.
22-23rd September - Jan presented two papers at the conference Rethinking Clusters (IV° International Conference on Cluster Research (Online) – – University of Florence – Italy). Theme is whether clustering lends itself to producivity advantages and how cultural challenges impact global multistakeholder initiatives.
14th September - SDU SDG Collaboratorium OPENING DAY. You can watch a live broadcast where researchers from all of SDU’s five faculties debate potential collaboration and how they face the challenges related to SDGs. SDU SDG Collaboratorium OPENING DAY: watch the full DEBATE.
AUGUST 2021
Jan hosted the Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh, Winnie Estrup Petersen, at SDU, Faculty of Engineering (TEK). She was here to discuss how universities can play a key role in generating sustainable development across the world.
From left: Jan Vang, Peter Hasle, Winnie Estrup Petersen, Søren Elmer Kristensen and Gilli Trond
JUNE 2021
Together with Annalisa Brambini, Jan published the paper “Patients, participation and wicked problems in hospitals: a plea for embracing the networked governance approach”.
Jan took part in the arrangement “Audits i ansvarlig handel – hvad kan vi bruge det til?” organized by The Danish Ethical Trading Initiative (DIEH). Read more: https://www.dieh.dk/arrangementer/204/
MAJ 2021
Jan participated at the “SOLUTION Movie” discussion panel. The movie is a about a group of the world’s leading scientists and entrepreneurs who isolate themselves for 10 days at the renowned Santa Fe Institute hidden away in the desert of New Mexico. They come from all corners of science representing environment, economy, democracy, cyberspace, education, status of institutions and artificial technology. They want to secure the future of humanity by creating a new and optimistic pathway into the future. Read more: https://cphdox.dk/film/solutions-da/
APRIL 2021
Together with M. Latif, Jan had a new paper about participation and social sustainability accepted by the Journal of Lean and Six Sigma.
Together with several colleagues, Jan had a new paper about synergies between Lean and OHS among global suppliers accepted in Sustainability.
MARCH 2021
Jan spoke about the implications of the coup in Myanmar for global corporations at Pisa University (webinar).
FEBRUARY 2021
Together with Leo Dana and Nigel Walton, Jan started the process behind launching the new Journal of Platform Economics.
Jan started as a reviewer of Business literature for the Danish Daily Jyllands-Posten.
Jan Vang tought public leadership and sustainability to public sector leaders in Bangladesh.
Together with Leo Dana and Nigel Walton, Jan started developing the concept for a Handbook of platform research for Edward Elgar.
JANUARY 2021
Jan Vang and Peter Hasle contributed a paper to the Journal of Supply Chain Management on how to craft interventions for sustainable development/SDG 8.
Jan contributed two papers to the World Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship about Innovation Systems and Entrepreneurship (including sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship) and Digital Platforms (including their sustainability challenges).
Together with Nicola Tollin, Donato Masi, and Annalisa Brambini, Jan Vang started editing the Handbook of Global Sustainable Production (with particular attention to the SDGs) for Edward Elgar.