6th EMES International Training School : Save the dates !

Rationale

After five successful editions of the EMES PhD Summer Schools, at University of Corsica (France) in 2008 ; Roskilde University (Denmark) in 2010 ; the University of Trento (Italy) in 2012 ; the West University of Timisoara (Romania) in 2014 ; the Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow (UK) in 2016 ; the sixth edition will be held at Marseille from 19-22 June 2018.

Some 150 students and 70 researchers from over 35 countries have participated in these unique learning events. PhDs constitute a central part of EMES as shown by the special membership category for PhD students, the seat reserved for PhD students in the EMES Board of Directors, and various concrete outputs. Some of these outputs include : the publication of a PhD Reader, the launching of an EMES PhD Student Network in 2008, the creation of the dedicated EMES Junior Experts Blog in 2011, the creation of an active Facebook group, and recently the EMES Alumni Network.
Social enterprises are developing rapidly, in Europe as in the rest of the world. Enterprises that combine social purpose and economic efficiency are characterized by specific governance structures and profit redistribution rules. These organizational forms attract more and more entrepreneurs wishing to give their contribution to solve important social or environmental issues.

Beyond these common characteristics, social enterprises are heterogeneous as far as their activity sector, size and legal form are concerned. They also follow different institutionalization paths, in deep connection with the traditions and evolutions of their national contexts. The recent and fast development of social enterprises raises several questions for researchers and PhD students at the heart of the EMES work : how to understand their heterogeneity and allow for international comparison ? How to learn from different case studies and go a step further toward generalization ? How do they interact with public authorities and/or with the market ? How to measure their performance and their social impact by comparison with other public or private organizations ?

From this perspective, three major thematic axes will be dealt in depth. The first axis will concern epistemological issues related to the choice of the epistemological framework and its methodological consequences. The second axis will discuss mixed methods that are more and more used but that raise the question of how to combine different methods (qualitative and quantitative) while keeping the research coherence. The third axis will deal with international comparison methods to develop a reflexive and critical analysis of comparison methods that currently coexist.
PhD students, early-career investigators, and researchers coming from different disciplinary backgrounds (such as sociology, management, economics, political sciences, law, anthropology, geography, etc.) whose research projects are connected to this field are welcome to apply for this training school.

In this context, EMES and LEST jointly organise the 6th EMES Training School aimed at researchers and PhD students who conduct research in the wide fields of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, social economy and solidarity economy and are interested in epistemological and methodological. With this event, EMES and LEST aim to :

• Emphasize the research design, epistemology and methodology involved in any research project, specifically in a doctoral path ;
• Strengthen the interdisciplinary dialogue in the fields of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, social economy and solidarity economy ;
• Strengthen the training of PhD students by means of methodological and theoretical lectures, debates, and professional and social media workshops ;
• Provide personalised feedback and support via well-supported small group discussion sessions on participants’ research projects, their research questions, approaches and theoretical understandings ; more precisely, in addition to various opportunities of informal discussion, at least a full hour will be devoted to every student’s research project within group sessions (for presentation by the student, feed-back by professors and their peers, discussion and synthesis of recommendations) ;
• Provide space for social and intellectual discussion so that doctoral students will have ample opportunity to establish and expand their own peer networks and benefit from contacts and feedback from established scholars ;
• Encourage a broad and diverse range of participants, since exchanges between researchers from different countries, continents, cultures and academic disciplines can support stimulating and fertile reflections on research approaches.

Scientific committee

The 6th EMES International Training School will include well-known professors from recognised research centres covering a wide spectrum of research themes, and this multi-disciplinary approach will represent a major strength for the participants.

Liste provisoire du comité scientifique :

1. Flora Bajard, LEST - CNRS, France
2. Andrea Bassi, University of Bologna, Italie
3. Thierry Berthet, LEST - CNRS, France
4. Claire Bidart, LEST - CNRS, France
5. Taco Brandsen, Radboud Nijmegen University, Pays-Bas
6. Anna Ciepielewska-Kowalik, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pologne
7. Kate Cooney, Yale University, USA
8. Tracey Coule, Sheffield Hallam University, Royaume-Uni
9. Jacques Defourny, HEC-University of Liege, Belgique
10. Sílvia Ferreira, University of Coimbra, Portugal
11. Luiz Inácio Gaiger, UNISINOS, Bresil
12. Giulia Galera, EURICSE, Italie
13. Lars Hulgård, Roskilde University, Danemark
14. Benjamin Huybrechts, EMLyon, France/Maroc
15. Xavier Itçaina, Centre Emile Durkheim - CNRS, France
16. Jean-Louis Laville, LISE/CNAM, France
17. Ariel Mendez, LEST - Aix Marseille University, France
18. Delphine Mercier, LEST - CNRS, France
19. Marthe Nyssens, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgique
20. Mary O’Saughnessy, University College Cork, Irlande
21. Amandine Pascal, LEST - Aix Marseille University, France
22. Francesca Petrella, LEST - Aix-Marseille University, France
23. Nadine Richez-Battesti, LEST - Aix-Marseille University, France
24. Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Coimbra University, Portugal
25. Ingrid Tucci, LEST - CNRS, France

The organizing committee is formed of Francesca Petrella, Nadine Richez-Battesti, Jocelyne Martinière-Tesson and Elie Perrichon (LEST), Rocío Nogales and Sabine Spada (EMES).

Important Dates

– Application submission deadline : 22 janvier 2018
– Results of the selection process : 26 février 2018
– Registration deadline : 9 Avril 2018
– Arrival of participants : 19 Juin 2018

Additional information about application submission and registration will be published on the event website at the end November. In the meantime, please note that applications to participate in the Training School will be accepted until 22nd January 2018. The result of the selection process will be communicated to applicants by 26th February 2018 at the latest.

Venue

All the academic activities of the Training School will take place at the Centre Vacanciel at Carry-le-Rouet (near Marseille, Provence, France). Accommodation will also be offered at the same venue.
More information on how to reach the Training School venue will soon be published. In the meantime, you can read about the venue on the Centre Vacanciel website.