AUS researcher wins award for work for the betterment of society by promoting peace

Associate Professor John E. Katsos of the American University of Sharjah (AUS) School of Business Administration (SBA) was presented recently with the Lawrence Forman Award from Haverford College for his ongoing research and community engagement in promoting peace and business in conflict zones, as well as for his commitment to sustainability and ethical business practices in crisis settings.

The Lawrence Forman Award is awarded annually to a graduate from Haverford College who was a student-athlete while at university and who, professionally or voluntarily, has devoted a significant amount of time and energy to the betterment of society. Award recipients are selected through a vote by the Alumni Association of Haverford College.

A former soccer and rugby player for his alma mater, Dr. Katsos is an expert and advocate for business as a tool for peace, community building, reconciliation and social impact, with his research forming a key part of a United Nations report on business in conflict zones. The research for which he won the award is based on fieldwork in Syria, Myanmar, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Cyprus.

“The Forman Award is an incredible honor and couldn’t have happened without AUS. My time at Haverford inspired my interest in peace work, my time in graduate school at George Washington University inspired my focus on business, and my time at AUS has led to a focus on regional and global conflicts. Over a decade worth of research on this topic has made clear that business can have a positive impact on peace when it acts ethically in each local context,” he said.

At AUS, Dr. Katsos teaches the courses Business Ethics and Social Responsibility and Business Law in the Department of Management. He sits on the boards of the UN Global Compact UAE, the UN PRME Business for Peace Working Group, and five social enterprises, including DiverseCity Global and PeaceIQ. He was also an expert consultant for the UN Business and Human Rights Working Group of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where his work was a core component to recommendations to the UN General Assembly on the human rights obligations of local companies in conflict zones. 

He is also a Research Affiliate at the Center for Leadership, Ethics, and Organizations at Queen’s University Belfast. His research has previously appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Washington Post, Global Policy, Business and Society, Multinational Business Review, and Journal of Business Ethics among others.