Jarrod, Air Commodore in the Royal Australian Air Force, was honoured with a Conspicuous Service Cross for outstanding achievement as Military Adviser to the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations. The Conspicuous Service Cross is awarded for “outstanding devotion to duty or outstanding achievement in the application of exceptional skills, judgement or dedication, in non-warlike situations”.
He was one of 737 Australians, including 2 former state premiers, to be honoured this year in the list announced 10 June by Australia’s Governor-General.
“Air Commodore Pendlebury is an outstanding officer whose dedication and commitment to reform has raised Australia and Defence’s influence and visibility in the UN peacekeeping realm,” said the official announcement.
“He has used his substantial experience in the Air Force to identify research gaps in the UN and develop timely academic products. His influential position as a well-respected leader in the innovation space has enabled Australia to drive the United Nations Digital Transformation which will enhance the safety and security of peacekeepers by harnessing the potential of digital technologies.”
Air Commodore Pendlebury is an outstanding officer whose dedication and commitment to reform has raised Australia and Defence’s influence and visibility in the UN peacekeeping realm.
Social innovation in United Nations Peacekeeping
Jarrod and several other academics at the CCSI have demonstrated the potential for social innovation approaches to solve defence issues.
A paper co-authored by Jarrod was presented last October to the Biennial International Conference of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, held near Washington, DC, by Neil Stott, Co-Director of the CCSI and Management Practice Professor of Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge.
The paper, which focuses on how a better understanding of how social problems affect UN Peacekeepers, and how that may guide UN decision making and performance, is co-authored by Neil Stott, Jarrod Pendlebury and Dr J. William “Bill” DeMarco, Research Fellow at the CCSI and a retired Colonel in the US Air Force.
“The complexities of the social environments in which contemporary peacekeepers find themselves preclude templated solutions, meaning these blue helmets must be armed with skills and knowledge that surpasses that necessary for high-end combat operations,” the paper says. “We believe social innovation offers a unique lens to direct both the framing and action necessary for the UN to achieve its goal of saving ‘successive generations of the scourge of war’.”
Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation
The Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation (CCSI) builds best practices across business, civil society, policy and academia for a more sustainable world.
Featured research
Stott, N., Pendlebury, J. and Demarco, W. (2023) “The keepers and the kept: social innovation in United Nations Peacekeeping.” In: Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society Biennial Conference, 13-15 October 2023, Reston, VA, USA.
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