Dr Hazenberg represents the University at Social Innovation Research Conference

​Dr Richard Hazenberg from the University’s Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII) attended the 7th International Social Innovation Research Conference (ISIRC) between 6 to 8 September.

The conference was held at the Ron Cooke Hub at the University of York and Dr Hazenberg was accompanied by three of the Institute’s PhD students Payal Jain, Anna Kopec and Cao Tu Oanh.

The conference is designed to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss the role of innovation in social enterprise, not-for-profits, state actors and the wider social economy.

The Institute presented two papers at the conference as part of its ongoing research agenda. The first paper was the result of a bilateral collaboration with Glasgow Caledonian University within a wider FP7 project exploring social entrepreneurship across Europe. The paper, titled ‘A comparative overview of social enterprise ecosystems in Scotland and England’ theorises the development of SE sectors using evolutionary biology and is based upon data collected in both Scotland and England. The second paper, presented by Anna Kopec and titled ‘The role of empathy in social enterprise’ explores the role that empathy plays in the establishment and development of social enterprises in England.

Dr Richard Hazenberg commented: “The conference has provided all of us with a fantastic overview of the exciting scholarly work that is going on in the area of social innovation, and also demonstrates how practitioners are leading the development of theory and challenging policy-makers. It was a real pleasure to attend the conference and was a great experience for the Institute’s research students. The University of York did a great job of hosting the event and we extend our thanks to them and the organising committee.”

Further information about the conference can be found online and both conference papers will be appearing on the University’s Nectar site shortly.