Two-day Mini-conference on Engaged Scholarship for the Future of Entrepreneurship held at Leeds University Business School

On the 19th and 20th of January, the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies (CEES), in collaboration with the Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI), hosted a mini-conference at the Leeds University Business School. Led by Dr Deema Refai and Professor Nick Williams, the two days of talks, workshops, and discussions focused on the theme ‘Engaged Scholarship for the Future of Entrepreneurship.’  

Speakers and discussants came from far and wide to lead the engaging sessions – coming from uk cities including Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Newcastle, as well as international locations Nantes and Dubai. Attendees also came from a wide variety of institutions, ensuring that the interactive sessions and networking opportunities were thoroughly engrossing.  

Day one of the conference included sessions such as ‘Practicing engaged scholarship in entrepreneurship’ led by Professor Monder Ram of Aston University, ‘Advancing enquiry in entrepreneurship research’ led by Professor Miruna Radu-Lefebvre of Audencia University, France, ‘The pearls and pitfalls of academia’ led by Professor Sarah Dodd, and ‘Engaging communities and achieving impact in entrepreneurship research – what and how?’ led by Professor Robert Newbery of Northumbia University. These sessions aimed to encourage discussion and collaboration between early career and senior Entrepreneurship academics, and to contribute to the creation of a supportive community for emerging PGRs. 

Day two included a Q&A with journal editors representing international peer-reviewed journals including International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, and International Small Business Journal. Research pitches were also presented by PGRs and ECRs, and a series of interactive parallel sessions were run. Both days of the mini-conference were very successful, with attendees commending the engaging programme of events, and the expertise of speakers. 

Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive. ‘I think this was really a great event. It was well organised, structured and very insightful. Bringing together Senior Academics with PGR and ECRs was great. Hearing experiences of the senior academics really helped me, inspired me, and gave me ideas. The pitches and prizes were great,’ said one attendee.

Teams from both CEES and NARTI are very pleased with the success of the event and look forward to collaborating again in the near future.  

CEES would like to thank Dr Deema Refai, Professor Nick Williams, Connor Bainbridge, and Demi Paxton of LUBS, and Natasha Francis, Jennifer Rodley, and Joanne Garrick from NARTI for their hard work and collaboration on this event, as well as all speakers, discussants, and attendees. Photography by Connor Bainbridge.