The fifth ceremony of the International Philippe de Woot Award took place on March, 28 2018 at UCL in Louvain-La-Neuve.
During this ceremony, Kristina Feldt and Judith Klein, both graduated from the Copenhagen Business School, won the award - which rewards a thesis from a university or business school worldwide that constitutes an original contribution to understanding and thinking about Corporate Social Responsibility or sustainable development. They analyzed the potential for improvement of the social conditions in the Ethiopian textile industry.
The jury had selected 3 nominees out of the 46 Master’s theses sent by students from 21 countries. Next to Kristina and Judith, the other nominees were Antony Simonofski (UNamur and KU Leuven) for his reflexion on the citizen participation to the smart cities; and Jeanne Cassiers and Audrey Herbeuval (Louvain School of Management) who studied this question : « Why does consumers buy brands which don’t seem ethical for them ».
Kristina and Judith received a prize of 3000€ of which half goes to an environmental or a social project. They chose to contribute to the Ethiopian NGO WISE, Organization for Women in Self Employment.
An auditorium Philippe de Woot at the LSM
This year, the ceremony took on a very specific dimension owing to the passing away, in September 2016, of Professor Philippe de Woot, who was considered to be a « sage » in economics as much as the pioneer of Corporate Social Responsibility in Belgium.
Just before the ceremony, the Louvain School of Management paid tribute to him by inaugurating the Philippe de Woot lecture hall, in the presence of his relatives, the University chancellor, Vincent Blondel, the Human Sciences sector vice-chancellor, Jacques Grégoire, and the LSM Dean, Michel de Wolf. Lecture Hall Doyen 21 has been entirely refurbished and decorated with a work of art by Chloé Coomans, « the seven valleys », which represent birds, one of Philippe de Woot’s interests.
Students exchange with Cyril Dion
In the afternoon, LSM students had the opportunity to exchange ideas and ask questions for two hours to Cyril Dion, the director of the documentary « Demain », which was awarded the César for best documentary in 2016.
He talked about the movie, the origins of this project, his desire to tell positive stories, things that can be done to change our behaviour and the outcome of this wonderful adventure.
Cyril Dion, who also was the keynote speaker at this year’s Philippe de Woot Award ceremony, made a point to once again answer the questions asked by students linked to the issue « What should we do now to change things for tomorrow? »
See all the pictures on www.jackydelorme.com/-/galleries/de-woot