University researcher presents at enterprising seminar

Payal Jain, PhD Researcher, from the University of Northampton’s Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII) attended the first seminar on Education and Entrepreneurship organised by Dr Nidhi Singal at the Faculty of Education in the University of Cambridge on 17 June.

Dr Cristina Devecchi from the University of Northampton’s School of Education facilitated and led the seminar. The seminar was a part of transferable skills programme that discussed alternative approaches to employment and explored ways of setting up enterprises and social enterprises in the UK.

Payal presented along with Jane Taylor from the University’s School of Education. Payal presented a research paper entitled: Perceptions of Social Value in the UK: Public, Private and Third Sectors that focused on creating and embedding social value in novice entrepreneurial initiatives. The UK Government’s Public Services (Social Value) Act (2012) was also discussed along with the potential impact and importance of the current study.

Fellow students from the Faculty of Education at Cambridge talked about setting and operating social enterprises, the challenges that they faced and their motivation to continue on the path of entrepreneurship.

Payal commented: “It was great to visit the University of Cambridge on behalf of the University of Northampton and the Institute for Social Innovation and Impact, and to meet so many people who were committed to entrepreneurship and make an impact in society. It is heartening to see the engagement that students have with value creation and the desire to improve society.”

Cristina commented: “It was a great opportunity to share ideas about entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. We look forward to building a strong partnership with colleagues and students from Cambridge and host similar events in Northampton in the future.”