Inspiring the leaders of tomorrow

Monash Business School educators Priya Sharma and Dr Annemarie Conrath-Hargreaves share a passion for the transformative power of learning, and a desire to inspire students to push the boundaries for a better future.

Tackling the big problems of sustainability and climate change requires radical new ways of thinking – and two award-winning Monash Business School educators have enthusiastically embraced the challenge to help shape the next generation of change-makers.

Dr Annemarie Conrath-Hargreaves and Priya Sharma are passionate about the power of education as an agent for socio-ecological change.

They believe educators can create a better future by cultivating the engagement, behaviours, skills and knowledge students need to become adaptable, proactive leaders.

According to Dr Annemarie Conrath-Hargreaves, Dean’s Award for Excellence for Early Career Teaching recipient, students need a safe learning environment which empowers them to ask daring questions and reimagine how things can be done to address existential challenges.

“My aim is to inspire and motivate students to challenge the traditional narrative of accounting and uncover newer, stronger ideas to tell an organisation’s story and – importantly – take actions that lead them to a sustainable future,” she said.

“I see it as my role as an educator to not only pass on important information but to also instil a passion in them to figure out how accounting can be used to change business, society and the planet through realistic solutions to secure the future of the next generation.”

Ms Sharma, a lecturer from the Department of Business Law and Taxation at the School of Business in Malaysia, couldn’t agree more.

She believes education is the “bridge connecting the next generation of leaders to the world” and educators play a crucial role in guiding students in ethical, sustainable ways to lead.

“Education must relate to the real world in a meaningful manner,” she said.

“I have high hope for the coming generations to right the wrongs the previous generations have done to the world.”

The Dean’s Award for Innovation in Learning and Teaching recipient has a passion for empowering the students through “meaningful, joyful, and impactful” learning.

“Learning is an exploratory journey and my philosophy of teaching has always been to lead students to explore their own hearts and minds, to guide them in how to think, not tell them what to think,” she said.