Stephen Vertigans is Head of School of Applied Social Studies, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. His research interests include Corporate Social Responsibility in the energy sector, with particular attention placed upon social impacts in Africa. To this end he has visited numerous African countries to help build capacity and to investigate how CSR approaches can help overcome deep rooted social problems and political tensions. Stephen was instrumental in the introduction of a MSc programme looking at CSR and Energy. He has published widely across a range of fields including Corporate Social Responsibility, African studies and forms of political violence.