16th ISIR conference inspired with ground-breaking ideas

This conference brought together international experts in social innovation and researchers from our department. They all put their expertise and enthusiasm for social innovation into their research, thereby initiating social and economic change.  

The keynote speakers' appearances are particularly noteworthy: 

• Sophie Bacq (IMD, Lausanne) addressed in her keynote how social enterprises act as catalysts for collective action and empower communities in the process.  

• Johanna Mair (Hertie School, Berlin) emphasised the social and political roles of social enterprises and argued in her keynote for a phenomenon-based approach to research.  

• Flor Avelino (Utrecht University, Netherlands) addressed the need to integrate social justice into sustainability efforts. 

• Gorgi Krlev (ESCP, Paris, France) inspired the participants in his keynote «Unlock hope: Impact in, through and beyond academia» with an explanation of 3 principles by which our research can remain interesting and satisfying in the long term.

A special highlight was the presentation of the Best Paper Awards. The jury honoured the best papers in three categories:  

• Katrin Bauer from TU Dortmund University was honoured with the Best PhD Paper Award. The research paper examines how actors and organisations in the public sector enable social innovation. The author developed a framework for orienting the public sector towards social innovation. 

• The Best Impact Paper Award went to Alina Kadyrova (Open University, UK; University of Manchester, UK), Francesca Calo (Open University, UK), Ali Ataullah (Open University, UK), Edoardo Ongaro (Open University, UK), Alessandro Sancino (Open University, UK; University of Milan Bicocca, Italy), Aqueel Wahga (Open University, UK). The authors challenge the assumption that social innovation brings about transformative social change and develop a solid evidence base for the effectiveness of social innovation. 

• Christina Hertel (University of Geneva) and Rossella Rocchino (TUM School of Management) were honoured with the Best Scholarly Award. 

Congratulations to the award winners for their groundbreaking work.  

A big thank you to the organisers who put their heart and soul into planning and running the conference at such a high level: many thanks to the two chairs Sebastian Gurtner and Pascal Dey as well as Andrea Marco Vuissoz, Maria Riniker, Amina Gabeljic, Yasmin Wieland and the whole team. A special thank you goes to Paula Angelica da Silva Pel for the impressive photos.  

We would also like to thank all participants from near and far - it was a great pleasure to have you as our guests.  

The next ISIRC conference will take place from 3-5 September 2025 at the University of Calgary in Canada.