Dr Melissa Marques-McEwan is Assistant Professor of Sustainable and Circular Business at the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University. Her research draws from systems thinking and performance management theories to investigate how businesses can create competitive advantage from circular business models, as well as how to transition towards circular and sustainable business ecosystems. She has a growing portfolio of collaborations with organisations in projects funded by the Scottish Institute of Remanufacturing, Scotland Beyond Net Zero, UKRI, and UNEP. She contributed as expert witness to the scrutiny of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill in 2023. Melissa teaches Systems Thinking and Analysis and Managing Business Performance courses at the Edinburgh Business School to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She holds a BEng in Production Engineering from UFSCar, Brazil and started her career at Procter & Gamble, purchasing waste management services for six factories in Latin America.

Dr Ana Paula Fonseca is an Associate Professor focusing on sustainability and leadership. Her expertise includes sustainability transitions, systems thinking, responsible leadership, and sustainable innovation. She collaborates with academia, industry, government, and third-sector entities to craft practical solutions for complex sustainability issues. Ana Paula has authored numerous publications on topics such as sustainability, sustainable development goals, systems thinking, employability, organisational learning, corporate social responsibility, ecopreneurship, and responsible management education. Her research examines how organisations and professionals manage sustainability transitions, develop capabilities for sustainable futures, and turn sustainability goals into tangible organisational and societal impacts. She has secured competitive research funding and established collaborations with organisations including the UN Environment Programme, Funding Scotland, CIPD, CSCMP, and a broad network of business and community partners.
Research areas: Sustainability Transitions • Leadership • Systems Thinking • Circular Economy • Organisational Learning • Sustainable Innovation • Employability • Responsible Management Education • Water Security • Climate Resilience
 

Dr Liz Cooper is an Assistant Professor in Strategy and Enterprise at Heriot‑Watt University. Her research examines how environmental and social sustainability are discussed and negotiated in organisational settings. She uses discursive psychology and conversation analysis to analyse real‑world interactions, with a focus on decision‑making, influence, sustainability advocacy and moral responsibility. Her work has been supported by externally funded research, including an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship and grants from the British Academy of Management and the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network. She teaches on undergraduate courses in sustainable business and sustainable change management. Prior to academia, she worked for over a decade in sustainability management, contributing to multi‑stakeholder projects on sustainable procurement, supply chains, circular economy and fair trade in the UK, Senegal and India. She is an elected member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland (2022–2027).

John Oyelakin is a doctoral researcher examining how ecosystem-level capabilities influence sustainability transition in the UK plastic packaging sector.  
He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MSc in Business Analytics and Consultancy from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
Before commencing his PhD studies, John gained extensive engineering and management experience in the oil and gas industry, bringing a strong interdisciplinary perspective to his research.