Timeline of
EMES
1996-2022
EMES is celebrating its 20th anniversary. That is two decades full of research and activities that have consolidated a worldwide research community. In this manner, we’re also looking back at all the milestones that are indispensable for creating groundbreaking research in the SE field.
PHASE 1: Prehistory EMES as a European thematic network
1996
PHASE 2: Formalization The EMES European Research Network
2001-2004
- PERSE Project, resulted in a collective book of EMES, entitled “Social Enterprise at the crossroads of market, public policies and civil society”. Marthe Nyssens (CIRTES, UCL, Belgium) coordinated this 2nd International comparative research project.
2004
- Rocío Nogales-Muriel became a Coordination assistant to increase the capacity of the Coordination Unit of the Network.
PHASE 3: Consolidation (2005-2009): How to live without major research projects
2005-2008
- Groundbreaking initiatives took place in this phase such as the joint EMES-ISTR European conferences in Paris (2005) and Barcelona (2008). The first members’ research seminars were held in Barcelona in 2006 and Warsaw in 2008.
2008
- Rocío Nogales-Muriel was promoted to director and moved to Madrid resulting in the creation of an EMES antenna in Spain. Sabine Spada and Sophie Adam worked with Rocío to support the Coordination Unit.
2008-2009
- The 1st EMES PhD Summer School in Corte (Corsica, France) and the 1st EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise in Trento (Italy).
PHASE 4: Globalization Empowering peripheral researchers and building a global community
2010-2014
- Various collaborations and partnerships were developed in Latin America with the sister network RILESS; in Eastern Asia with joint conferences in Taiwan (2010) and South Korea (2014); as well as in Eastern Europe, under the leadership of EURICSE.
2010
- Lars Hulgård (CSE-RUC, Denmark) was elected as the second president of EMES and hosted the 2nd EMES PhD Summer School and the 2nd EMES International Conference in Roskilde.
2011
- Launch of the EMES Junior Experts’ Blog (EJEB) led by the EMES PhD Network was a result of the Summer School held the previous year.
2012
- Jean-Louis Laville (CNAM, France) spearheads joint events with the Polanyi Institute in the form of a bi-annual seminar, the first one was held in Paris in 2012.
2013
- The 4th EMES Conference took place in Liege.
- The ICSEM Project was launched under the scientific leadership of Jacques Defourny and Marthe Nyssens, gathering more than 200 research partners from 30 countries.
- EMES created a seat for a PhD representative at its Board of Directors to create a direct, formal connection with the EMES PhD network. The first representative was Michael Roy.
2014
- EMES joins the UN Task Force of Social and Solidarity Economy as an Observer member and participates actively in its meetings and activities.
- Jennifer Eschweiler joined the Coordination Unit as project and communication officer.
2015
- EMES opened up to new members from all world regions and changed its name from “European” to “International” in 2015. Francesca Calò joined the EMES Board as new PhD representative.
PHASE 5: Stabilisation EMES as a global social enterprise
2016
- First open election of EMES resulting in the first Board fully elected by members. Marthe Nyssens (CIRTES-UCL, Belgium) became the third president of EMES. Michaela Lednova joined the Coordination Unit as a fellow.
2017
- Marthe led the organization of the 6th EMES International Conference and become the Chair of the first COST Action won by EMES, “Empowering the next generation of social enterprise scholars” (EMPOWER-SE).
- Eduardo Pereira joined the EMES Board as new PhD representative.
2017-2021
2018
- The Bernheim Foundation financial support helped to increase the capacity of the Coordination Unit. This enabled hiring Thomas Pongo as project, membership and communication officer.
2019
- Second open election of EMES. The Network embarks in its second strategic planning process in search of a new, more stable, economic model, combined with research projects, membership fees, conference fees and other resources. The result is the Strategic Plan 2019-2022.
- Sergio Páramo Ortiz joined the EMES Board as PhD representative.
2021
- The first hybrid 8th EMES International Research Conference on social enterprise was organized in Teruel (Spain) in October 2021. It gathered 150 researchers and stakeholders face-to-face and over 250 researchers online.
- Tamara Bilbija joined the Coordination Unit team, together with Sophie Adam and Rocío Nogales.
- During the 2021 annual General Assembly, held during the 8th EMES Conference in Teruel, Taco Brandsen took over the presidency of the EMES Board of Directors.
- Kerryn Krige joined the Board as PhD representative.
- ANSES, a network of SE scholars operating in Africa joined forces with EMES to provide support and foster collaborations.
- Affinity Groups are approved as a way to get members organized around specific research themes and interests. The first launched were “Culture and the Arts” and “Migration Issues”, “Central and Eastern Europe” and “Social impact”.
PHASE 6: Addressing societal challenges (2022-…)
2022
- Work begins to prepare the new strategic plan in a context radically different from anything we have lived before. The relevance of research to society and the role of researchers in the social and environmental transformations are of foremost importance in this new phase.
- The Erasmus+ DIMSE project begins to test the feasibility of organizing an official joint Masters program on SE across European universities.
- The 8EMEStraining school takes place in June in Seville (Spain). It is the first face-to-face school since 2018.
- The Routledge volume “Social Enterprise in Latin America” co-edited by Luiz Inácio Gaiger, Marthe Nyssens and Fernanda Wanderley became available in Open Access!
- Preparations for the 9EMESconf on Social Enterprise to be held in Frankfurt in September 2023 begin.
2023
- Upcoming open Board elections. The first were held in 2015, and the second open Board elections were carried out in 2019.