Pavel Castka is a Professor at International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China, where he serves as Associate Dean Business Intelligence and Industry Research. Previously, he was Associate Dean Research and Professor at UC Business School, University of Canterbury, New Zealand until 2024, holding visiting appointments at institutions like UCLA Anderson. His research focuses on the intersection of operations, supply chain management, and sustainability, encompassing ESG, transparency, and the impact of standards on competitiveness. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, books and industry reports including works in top journals such as Journal of Business Ethics and California Management Review. He has been a Principal Investigator on several externally funded projects, securing over 1.3 MIL in funding since 2020. Between 2021-2025, he was listed four times on Elsevier and Stanford University’s Top 2% scientists list. Prof. Castka actively contributes to international standardization with ISO, and Standards NZ, notably serving as a nominated expert for the international guidance standard on social responsibility (ISO 26000, 2005-2010). He is an ISO/TC 176 committee member and an ISO Auditing Practices Group member. His expertise is frequently sought by policymaking institutions like ISO, UNIDO, and IUCN for advice. Outside academia, Pavel enjoys family time, guitar, and DIY.

Operations & supply chains management and Sustainability

ESG/sustainability accoutability (i.e., adoption of remote sensing and AI for social and environmental accountability, working conditions of auditors)

Transparency (i.e., consumer involvement in social and environmental monitoring, sustainable consumption; new governance modes for supply chain accountability)

Standards and certifications for firm competitiveness. 

IOM445 Strategic Decision Making and analytics, IMBA Program, 

SMO 424 Sustainability, Innovation and Change, IMBA Program, 

IOM 404 Strategic Operations Management, MSc in Operation and Supply Chain Management

ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland, an informal group of quality management system (QMS) experts, auditors and practitioners, drawn from the ISO Technical Committee 176 Quality Management and Quality Assurance (ISO/TC 176) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). 

Nominated expert, the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland, ISO/TMB/WG social responsibility; a working group established to develop ISO 26000 social responsibility international standard, nominated expert for NZ by Standards New Zealand to represent a national viewpoint (2005-2010)

Invited member of ISO/TC 176 by Standards New Zealand, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland Significance: ISO 9000 is a long-standing part of operations management curriculum. This standard has been adopted by over 1M organizations in 150 economies.