Academia Press – serie

Learn how to craft a powerful growth strategy, from defining your vision to outmanoeuvering competitors, and from leveraging technology to optimising your marketing and sales funnel. Delve into critical chapters that cover everything from foundational growth principles to advanced tactics in marketing, financial management, and organisational development. Benefit from expert advice on navigating acquisitions, entering new markets, and fostering a company culture that champions growth as a mindset. Equip yourself with the knowledge to manage financial risks, drive customer engagement, and maximise your resources through data-driven decision-making. Designed for ambitious entrepreneurs and seasoned executives alike, this guide is your roadmap to sustainable success and industry leadership. Whether you're looking to refine your approach or transform your business model, Growth Strategy offers the guidance, insights, perspective, and inspiration to thrive in a competitive marketplace. Don't miss out on this essential resource for anyone looking to take their business to new heights.

Talent doesn't manage itself. In a world where people make the difference, smart talent management is your biggest competitive edge. This book reveals a clear, strategic approach to attracting, developing and retaining the people who truly matter. Based on the 6 Bs – Buy, Build, Bind, Borrow, Boost and Bounce – it shows how to unlock human potential and turn it into real business value. A must-have for leaders who take talent seriously.

Humans are at home on land, not in the sea. We know more about the surface of Mars than about our own deep sea. The ocean contains the highest mountains on Earth and is home to countless mysterious sea creatures that have barely been studied. Due to this lack of knowledge, we underestimate the crucial role the ocean plays for the planet—and therefore also for humanity for example, in the fight against climate change. This book aims to change that. Based on the latest scientific insights, it seeks to immerse the reader, through storytelling, in the hidden beauty and complex workings of the ocean. The authors explain how ocean warming, acidification, overfishing, and pollution not only threaten its fragile flora and fauna, but also us. Yet all is not lost: technological revolutions offer hope—if we act in time. The Unknown Sea explores how we can rise to the challenges. The Unknown Sea is officially endorsed as an Ocean Decade Activity under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). This recognition highlights the book’s contribution to advancing ocean knowledge and supporting global efforts toward a more sustainable and resilient ocean. Through its insights and perspectives, The Unknown Sea aligns with the Ocean Decade’s mission to transform ocean science into actionable solutions for society.

In a world where data abounds, it's all about valorisation: turning raw data into valuable insights, applications and innovations. This book shows how companies can turn data into competitive advantage, new products, more efficient processes, and stronger customer relationships. You'll discover the strategic, technological and ethical building blocks of data valorisation - with real-world examples, concrete tools and clear insights.

"This is a place where different voices and ideas meet, inspiring visitors through the unexpected plurality of meanings and interactions presented in the different themes and the way they are displayed. Instead of proclaiming one truth, the museum invites and embraces a multitude of perspectives, allowing a dynamic discourse in narratives dealing with very topical issues." – Jury EMYA (European Museum of the Year), special commendation 2022In a world longing for certainty and clear-cut answers, the Museum of Doubt makes a powerful case for doubt, vulnerability, and complexity as driving forces of both science and citizenship. Professor Marjan Doom, director of the Ghent University Museum (GUM) & its neighbouring botanical garden, invites readers to reflect on the role of science museums today. Drawing on personal experience and curatorial case studies, she reveals how art and science enrich one another, how doubt is not a weakness but a necessity, and how museums can bridge the gap between science and society. A sharp and compelling ode to critical thinking.

Why do so many organisations struggle to let their high potentials truly shine? The Talent Trap: How to Spot and Sculpt Hidden Potential offers a fresh and practical approach to detecting, developing, and deploying talent with more impact and more humanity. With the P.A.C.E. method as your compass – not a rigid model, but a flexible framework – you’ll learn to recognise the potential that conventional and more fixed career programs often overlook, and create the conditions for people to grow and thrive in ways that benefit both the business and themselves.

It comes as a surprise to many that the elemental human impulse to tell stories, far from being the exclusive realm of children's bedtime, long-forgotten civilizations and remote cultures, is also a burgeoning creative art form here, now, in twenty-first century, postindustrial societies. Storytelling in the Moment is a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary yet accessible exploration of contemporary verbal storytelling in Britain and Ireland. Primary research focuses attention on the working practices of today's storytellers, the role of the listener/participant in a storytelling event, the informal groups and established organizations that sustain its development, the multifaceted roles that storytelling now plays in our society and the complex network interconnections that link its component parts. It also seeks to reveal how an emergent, grassroots, socio-cultural movement can become ubiquitous in society but pass largely unnoticed by a wider public in an age of global mass-media.

Intersectionality: buzzword or new paradigm? In this book, renowned scholars and young researchers explore the value of the concept for research and critical practice. How does intersectionality add to existing categories and frameworks? Is it appropriate to describe what is on the intersection of gender, class, race, and ethnicity? What frameworks, practices, and policies do we need to map complex social structures? What role does intersectionality play herein?

In today’s fast-paced and complex workplaces, managers must deliver results while fostering inclusive collaboration. Consensusmanagement offers a practical, research-based framework to navigate hidden disagreements, diverse viewpoints, and group decision-making. The Consensus Management Framework helps leaders explore, measure, and optimise alignment within teams, organisations, and networks. Based on years of consulting and academic research, it provides clear guidance for building stronger, more cohesive teams.

What will we eat? Today, store shelves are well stocked, but what about the future? As climate change and global tensions put pressure on our food system, science and agriculture are also evolving. This book takes you through some of the crucial turning points facing agriculture, fisheries, and food today — from microbes that produce our food to the soil that sustains us, from artificial intelligence scanning our seas to new culinary adventures in the kitchen. Joris Relaes and Nele Jacobs focus on societal trends and technological innovations that are transforming our food. They tell a hopeful story about scientific progress, common sense, and the impact we can have as conscious consumers.

Even though knowledge about identity, sociocultural diversity, and popular media culture in society and academia has increased, many students, scholars, and engaged citizens are seeking out information and academic insights to being better equipped to talk and think about these themes. For instance, some may have a basic understanding of what ‘woke’ means but lack a historical awareness of the transformation of the term. Similarly, some may desire to understand why some television programs have been argued to be ‘heteronormative’ or ‘ableist.’ The aim of this book is to provide readers with comprehensible, tangible, and nuanced explanations about the way popular media culture has dealt with sociocultural diversity in Western societies. To do so, this book’s approach is threefold. First, starting from the belief that historical insights are essential to better grasp contemporary debates and practices vis-à-vis sociocultural diversity and popular media culture, the book provides insight into a selection of historical contexts and milestones. The historical sections will pay attention to changes in media representations of certain minority groups and to the way research into sociocultural diversity in media and popular culture developed. Second, the book explores a selection of key theoretical concepts, developed by scholars from communication sciences, media and cultural studies, and social theory, which help better understand the diverse ways sociocultural diversity has been engaged with in popular media culture, particularly in relation to aspects of production and representation. Third, the book offers reflections on contemporary trends, transformations, and challenges.