About
Dr. Bhavesh Sarna
I am a postdoctoral researcher in corporate environmental management at the University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics (JSBE) in Finland. For a decade my research has followed India's mandatory CSR law and how employees make sense of their organisations' sustainability claims — the microfoundations of corporate social responsibility.
Today my work also covers the circular economy, social life cycle assessment and sustainability reporting. I am principal applicant on €900,000 of research and capacity-building funding, including KODECET, a €790,010 Erasmus+ consortium spanning Finland, India and Thailand, and I will lead a work package in MAPS, an Erasmus+ project on smart and sustainable cities in South and Southeast Asia (2027–2029).
I supervise doctoral researchers, coordinated the international master's programme in Corporate Environmental Management from 2020 to 2025, and work as a bridge between Finnish and Indian research communities.
Positions
- 2024 – presentPostdoctoral Researcher, Corporate Environmental Management
University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics (JSBE) - 2020 – 2024University Teacher and Programme Coordinator
University of Jyväskylä - 2016 – 2019Doctoral Researcher
University of Jyväskylä
Education
- PhD
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Corporate Environmental Management. Dissertation: Understanding employee–CSR relationship by exploring microfoundations of corporate social responsibility - MSc
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Corporate Environmental Management. Thesis: Voluntary CSR vs. mandatory CSR — the sound of employees - MBA
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Business Sustainability and Operations Management - B.Tech
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India
Computer Science
Teaching
- Sustainability Business Strategies for Global Markets (7 ECTS), 2025 –
- Managing a Green Organization (5 ECTS), 2018 –
- Environmental Management in Stakeholder Networks (5 ECTS), 2018 –
- Sustainability in the Emerging Markets (4 ECTS), 2020 – 2024
- Environmental Management: Project Work and Internships (5 ECTS), 2020 – 2023
- Introduction to Responsible Business (5 ECTS, cohorts of 200+), 2018 – 2021
- Business, Society and the Environment (5 ECTS), 2018 – 2019
See my guest lectures and staff training →
Keynotes and recognition
- Keynote, NICOM 2025 — 28th Nirma International Conference on Management
- Keynote, 7th International Scientific Conference: Strengthening Resilience by the Sustainable Economy and Business, 2023
- Top Cited Article, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2022–2023
- Speaker, WWF Green Office Network: Employee Motivation for Environmental Sustainability, 2023
- Outstanding Academic Performance Scholarship, University of Jyväskylä, 2015
Academic service
- Executive Committee Member, Finland–India Network of Researchers and Academics (FINERAC), 2021 –
- Communications Director, GRONEN — Group for Research on Organizations and the Natural Environment, 2018 – 2025; organising team, GRONEN conferences 2020, 2022 and 2024
- Session chair: SUSCON XII and XI (IIM Shillong), GRONEN 2024 (SKEMA, Paris), PRISM 2023 (BIMTECH)
- Reviewer: Journal of Business Ethics, Business Strategy and the Environment, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Marketing Management, Business Strategy and Development, Heliyon; Academy of Management Annual Meeting