“Sustainable Futures: Leadership Strategies in Green Innovation, STEM, and Gender Inclusion”

Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Sustainable Futures: Leadership Strategies in Green Innovation, STEM, and Gender Inclusion”

Journal: Strategy & Leadership
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Submission deadline: 30 April 2026

This special issue explores how inclusive, intersectional leadership can drive green innovation, STEM advancement, and gender‑equitable development. It focuses on how strategic leaders and organisations can integrate climate‑action, technological‑progress, and gender‑mainstreaming into coherent, sustainable‑future strategies, especially in the Global South and under‑resourced contexts.

Why this issue matters

• Women’s participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is strongly linked to greater creativity, innovation, and socio‑economic progress, yet significant barriers remain in access, representation, and leadership.

• Green innovation and low‑carbon technologies require strong, inclusive leadership that engages marginalised voices (especially women and youth) in designing adaptation and mitigation strategies that are both effective and fair.

• Existing literature often treats green innovation, STEM, and gender inclusion in silos; this SI aims to build integrated, cross‑cutting frameworks that connect leadership, sustainability, and equity.

Core themes and research topics

Contributions may be conceptual, empirical, or practice‑oriented and should clearly address strategic leadership. Suggested areas include:

• Gender‑diverse leadership in green technologies and circular economies

  • How leadership by women and gender‑diverse managers shapes green‑technology adoption, circular‑business models, and decarbonisation.

• STEM education and gender inclusion in green transitions

  • Leadership strategies for gender‑inclusive STEM education, skills development, and research pipelines that support green‑economy jobs.

• Intersectional leadership for sustainable innovation

  • How leadership that recognises race, class, gender, and geography can foster more inclusive green‑innovation ecosystems.

• Climate resilience, innovation, and inclusive leadership in rural economies

  • Case studies of community‑based, women‑led, or youth‑driven projects in rural and peri‑urban settings.

• Public–private partnerships and cross‑sector collaboration for sustainability

  • Roles of business, universities, and civil‑society leaders in co‑designing gender‑equitable sustainability solutions.

• Metrics and impact assessment of gender‑inclusive green leadership

  • Frameworks to assess how gender‑inclusive leadership in green innovation contributes to decent work and inclusive development.

Guest editors

• Dr. David Botchie, Brunel Business School, Brunel University London, UK

• Dr. Justina Adwoa Onumah, Science and Technology Policy Research Institute, CSIR, Ghana

• Prof. Michael Danquah, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Ghana

• Dr. Weifeng Chen, Brunel Business School, Brunel University London, UK

Submission details

• Submission platform: ScholarOne Manuscripts for Strategy & Leadership:
  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sl

• When submitting, select the special issue title “Sustainable Futures: Leadership Strategies in Green Innovation, STEM, and Gender Inclusion”.

• Submission window: 1 October 2025 – 30 April 2026

• Manuscripts must be original and not under consideration elsewhere and must follow the journal’s Author Guidelines.

This SI is ideal for leadership scholars, innovation‑management researchers, science‑and‑technology‑policy analysts, and gender‑equity practitioners who wish to advance intersectional leadership models for green, STEM‑driven sustainable futures.

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