As a researcher and now business founder, my work has always been driven by a deep curiosity and care about people, and how we can better connect human insight with meaningful action. Alongside this, I’ve developed a strong personal and professional commitment to sustainability, with a particular focus on ensuring that the work we do delivers value without “costing the earth”.

Attending the recent MRS Voices4All Conference 2026, I was struck by both the depth of thinking and commitment to growth and change in the room, as well as the stark room for improvement that still exists. The day was rich with powerful reflections on the ‘S’ and somewhat on the ‘G’ in ESG – but it also prompted a question: what about the ‘E’?

Here, I’ll share a selection of highlights from the day, while also layering in a sustainability lens. Ultimately, my reflection is a simple one: if inclusion is about shaping fairer systems for people, then sustainability is about ensuring those systems endure and in way that benefits both people and planet.

Solidarity as the foundation of progress and joyful discovery  

I was refreshed by Rachel Lawes and Sharmila Subramanian’s openness about the fact that no matter how hard we try as experienced and high-performing researchers, it is impossible to sweep away all of our biases, and that no matter our style and skill as a moderator, there will always be a power imbalance in a research setting.

Traditional moderation techniques paired with the usual approach of completely leaving ourselves and our lived experience behind – so-called neutrality (which they called out as a myth!) – is very ‘extractive’ as an approach, they said.

Drawing on recent research conducted with CORe, where both researcher and participant were allowed to bring their full selves to the conversation, Rachel and Sharmila shared how this brought unexpected moments of empathy and connection – the rebalance of power in the conversation fostered true reciprocal exchange, meaning participants opened up more deeply than they would have otherwise.

This session finished up by calling out the pain of obliviousness of people within our sector and beyond – in 2026, different sub-groups of the population are asking why we need, or aren’t even aware of, things like Pride, Feminism, Black History Month and so on – and really highlighted the need for events like this one to continue.

Sustainable reflections: As Sharmila highlighted in the session, the Grenfell Tower fire disproportionately affecting affected lower socioeconomic groups;, sustainability issues similarly impacts those with the least resources the most. Globally, people with lower incomes are more vulnerable to climate-related disasters and less able to recover from them.

Secondly, just as people can be unaware of issues around inclusion, the same applies to sustainability. Bringing these ideas together: imagine someone in a poorly ventilated council flat during a heatwave, with barely enough income for basic needs and limited mobility. They may have no access to air conditioning, be unable to afford a fan, and face serious health risks, including increased risk of death.

If you haven’t experienced this or don’t know someone who has, it can be easy to overlook. This highlights how the social and environmental aspects of ESG are deeply interconnected. UK government research shows unequal access to ‘green choices’ due to poverty, infrastructure, and inequality. As researchers, we must educate ourselves, consider alternative perspectives and design inclusive, sustainable and regenerative research approaches.

Making menopause matter

This panel had a really open conversation about menopause, including how to be more inclusive in the workplace and through the research that we conduct. Governance was a key focus here – by having menopause (and other) policies in place, it stops support being at the discretion of only ‘nice’ or inclusive managers, and means companies have to support you, not just that they can.

A few enlightening moments included the fact that menopause has over 50 symptoms (!) and not everyone experiences all of these – in fact, the well-known  ‘hot flushes’ isn’t necessarily a common symptom; and the panel included guidance on how to ‘screen in’ for menopausal women – you cannot use a solid age range, instead we need to ask people about their lived experience and symptoms instead.

Sustainable reflections: As we discovered in the panel, women experiencing menopause are more likely to reduce hours, leave work or are more likely to struggle with working conditions, impacting their mental health and productivity. Even though hot flushes are only one of many symptoms, they’re a good example to use when further linking sustainability and menopause – as climate change increases, so do heatwaves, which of course have a greater impact on those already struggling to regulate their temperature.

Women are also generally more affected by poverty, including energy costs which affects their ability to heat or cool homes and therefore to live comfortably during menopause – and so environmental inequality can worsen menopause experiences for lower-income women.

Therefore, improving environmental sustainability also requires inclusive workplace/environmental design and equitable access to resources, backed up by policies that support menopausal health – something we must consider as researchers for our employees, clients and participants.

Can AI save diversity & inclusion?

In this session led by Sabrina Trinquetel, we learned that while AI is making significant progress in some areas – helping to find lifesaving cures and treatments, finding solutions for climate change… it is ultimately technology and not human, and as such its goals do not align with humans’.

The big problem here is that (a) inclusive data doesn’t exist (there is a lot of bias woven into existing information sources) and (b) AI is often not very accurate in its outcomes due to its lack of human understanding. In fact, one AI model shared had accuracy of around 50%, meaning you were just as well flipping a coin to inform your decision-making!

Sabrina had a few calls to arms; the first was: can we look to (responsibly and safely) feed our research and insights into AI models to plug some of the information gaps or to keep feeding these models new and up-to-date information? Sabrina also asked us to make sure we’re always questioning who is missing from the data and whether our use of AI in research and our wider work could disadvantage anyone.

Sustainable reflections: AI can be so darn helpful, but also so damned damaging to the environment. Let’s use it responsibly. I do think, with conscious effort, AI can help us in this regard. Show it your research approach or questionnaire and ask it to interrogate the accessibility and inclusion for those with disabilities, marginalised and minority groups and so on – and do the same for your conclusions and recommendations… it can help you see through your blind spots and biases.

It can be used for sustainability, too – are there questions regarding the sustainability of this product or service you should be asking your client or participants about, or including as a business action in your recommendations? AI is not always a bad thing, but let’s consciously use it for good, to be both more inclusive and more sustainable (and not just for when we’re feeling lazy).

I couldn’t cover all sessions here – but there were certainly additional opportunities dotted around the day for even more sustainability conversations, from utilising Dr Philly’s social norm practices in a broader ESG setting to deeper conversations on AI versus ESG. This event and the topics covered deserve much more attention than they get at present – so here’s hoping we have more joined up ESG-focused research events in the future.

Those of us already championing these areas are not asking everyone to know everything and implement everything immediately – I’m a big fan of progression over progress – but I believe we can all do more, and the first step is in listening and learning.

So, I’ll leave you with the words Mark Thorpe wrapped up the day with: “This hasn’t been a conference or a gathering, it’s a way of living in the world” – let’s all go out there and try “to be the change we want to see”.

Lian Mico CMRS is founder and chief executive at Pentalian, and member of the MRS Sustainability Council