Dr David F Murphy, PhD

Biography

Dr David F. Murphy is Associate Professor of Sustainability & Collaborative Leadership and Academic Lead of the Initiative for Leadership & Sustainability (IFLAS), University of Cumbria. Externally David is Co-Chair of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership and represents the university in the Lancashire Climate Action Network (LancsCAN) – two vibrant examples of collaboration for net zero in North West England.

David also has extensive international experience of working on multi-stakeholder engagement, partnering and business sustainability with senior leaders and change agents in business, government, universities NGOs, and the UN system, including related teaching, applied research and consultancy on partnerships for sustainable development.

David is currently working with Futureproof Cumbria on the development of a series of pilot Decarbonisation Policy and Practice Briefing Papers for the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership. Other recent projects include ‘Strengthening Cumbria's Civil Society’ with the Office of the Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, Cumbria Development Education Centre (CDEC) and Thinking Philanthropy; and a series of research and knowledge exchange projects on the transformational potential of partnerships for the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

David has an MSc in Comparative Development and International Policy, and a PhD in International Policy on Sustainable Development, from the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, He is also an alumnus of the University of Calgary (BEd Secondary English) and Dalhousie University (BA Political Science).

Qualifications and memberships

• PhD International Policy, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol (1998)

• MSc Comparative Development and International Policy, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol (1993)

• BEd Secondary English, University of Calgary (1987)

• Academic Member, Academy of Management, USA (current)

• Affiliate Member, Society of Editors, Cambridge, UK (current)

• Member, Association of Sustainability Practitioners, Poole, UK (current)

Academic and research interests

• Cross-sector collaboration on sustainable development

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Citizenship and sustainability in organisations and communities

• Collaborative leadership and learning in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs)

• Monitoring and evaluation of partnering processes, governance and outcomes

• Collaborative action research, and applied qualitative research

Research supervision

• Doing Business Within Safe and Just Limits: Towards an African Communitarian Enterprise Ownership Model for a Wellbeing Economy. (Nnaemeka Amanze, started 2025)
• Examining the Role of Effective Strategies for Building Organisational Resilience in a Dynamic Business Climate of SMEs in Ghana. (Asare Brown Akuffo, started 2025)
• Developing Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Policies for Companies in Ghana and West Africa. (John Kojo Williams, started 2024)
• Re-forming Sustainability Leadership in light of Charlotte Mason. (Joanna Stanberry, started 2022)
• Weak Signal Detection and Qualification for Sustainable Innovation: Meta Peripheral Vision for Business. (Jef Teugels, started 2022)
• Virtuous Money: An Integrative (R)Evolution of Our Values, Collaborations, Behaviours and Beliefs. (Christophe Place, ongoing)
• Festival Sustainability? Towards a Conceptual Model of Human Values and the Future of the Festival. (Seonaid Lafferty, ongoing)
• Environmental Management Strategies in Family Businesses: Exploring Triggers, Outcomes, and the Moderating Effects of Environmental Management Accounting - The Case of Sri Lanka. (Chamila Harshani Dasanayaka, PhD awarded 2025)
• To Legalise or Not to Legalise: Evaluating the Contribution of Traceability Technology to the Sustainability and Governance of the Peruvian Jumbo Squid and Mahi Mahi Fisheries. (Aimee Leslie, PhD awarded 2025)
• Intersectional Disadvantages and Abuse Experienced by Pakistani Women Living in the UK – Pakistani Women’s Accounts of their Journey in and out of Domestic Abuse. (Ruby Iqbal, PhD awarded 2024)
• My Post-Living-Theory of Caring-with-Mutuality: A Question of Being and Becoming. (Sonia Hutchison, PhD awarded 2022)
• My Living Theory of International Development. (Ariana Briganti, PhD awarded 2019)

Publications

• Dasanayaka, CH, Gunarathne, N & Murphy, DF (2024). Environmental Responsibility of Family Businesses: A perspective paper, Journal of Family Business Management. 14(5), 997-1004. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-10-2023-0253
• Dasanayaka, C, Gunarathne, N, Murphy, DF & Nagirikandalage, P (2022). Triggers For and Barriers to the Adoption of Environmental Management Practices by Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises: A critical review. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 29(4). 749-764. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2244
• Dasanayaka, CH, Murphy, DF, Nagirikandalage, P, & Abeykoon, C (2021). The Application of Management Accounting Practices towards the Sustainable Development of Family Businesses: A critical review. Cleaner Environmental Systems. 3, 100064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2021.100064
• Jones, G & Murphy, DF (2025). Landscape Scale Rewilding Project Management: Exploring rewilding as a multi-project environment. PM World Journal, 14(1). https://pmworldjournal.com/article/landscape-scale-rewilding-project-management
• Marshall, A & Murphy, DF (2017). Rural Innovation Ecosystems and Leading Wellbeing, Journal of Corporate Citizenship. 2017(68), 7-14. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26629187
• Murphy, DF & Gale, AW (2023). Projects as Partnerships: Project management and cross-sector partnering approaches to stakeholder engagement. PM World Journal. 12(7), July, 1-13. https://pmworldjournal.com/article/projects-as-partnerships
• Murphy, DF & Marshall (2021). Citizenship and Sustainability in Organizations: Exploring and spanning the boundaries. pp. 164, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429347399
• Murphy, DF & Stott, L (2021). Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). pp. 262, Basel, Switzerland: MDPI Books. https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-0365-0847-4
• Murphy, DF & Stott, L (2021). Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainability 13(2), 658. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020658
• Shaw, G, Murphy, DF, Marshall, A, Rosiello, A, Sena, V, & Li, J (2024). Knowledge Absorption and Innovation in UK SMEs: A study by economic sector and place. Small Business International Review. 8(2), e626. https://doi.org/10.26784/sbir.v8i2.626
• Stanberry, J, Murphy, DF, & Balda, JB (2024). Recognising Ecological Reflexivity: An alternative approach to partnership capabilities for collaborative governance. Sustainability. 16(16), 6829. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16166829
• Stott, L & Murphy, DF (2020). An Inclusive Approach to Partnerships for the SDGs: Using a relationship lens to explore the potential for transformational collaboration. Sustainability. 12(19), 7905. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197905
• Williams, S & Murphy, DF (2023). Learning from Each Other: UK global businesses, SMEs, CSR and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Sustainability. 15(5), 4151. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054151
• Williams, S & Murphy, D.F. (2022). Applying Authentic Assessment to Teaching the SDGs. in L Moratis & F Melissen (eds.) Business Schools, Leadership and the Sustainable Development Goals. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003244905

Recent external roles

• Co-Chair, Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership, with more than eighty organisations working towards a net zero carbon county by 2037 (current)
• Series Editor, ‘Citizenship & Sustainability in Organizations’, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Oxon (current)
• External Examiner, Imperial College London (ongoing)
• Associate, The Partnering Initiative, London (ongoing)
• Senior Associate, United Nations System Staff College, Turin, Italy (2005-2008)

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