The end of the year is a great time to recall the events during the year and be grateful for the moments shared.

Throughout the year, we had numerous activities and the EMES community continued to consolidate despite the challenging political, social and climate emergency situation that our societies are facing. This year welcomed the 8th edition of EMES International Training School which was hosted by the University of Seville (Spain). An outstanding group of senior members gathered at this training school to learn about the projects and exchange ideas for future collaborations with PhD students and early-career researchers (ECR). EMES is committed to this aim since 2008 when it launched the first EMES International Training School in Corsica (France). The second important event spread across this year was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the foundation of EMES: 2002 was the year of the formal establishment of EMES! Two decades full of research, teaching and learning with the sustained goal of consolidating a body of knowledge around the SE field that has consolidated a worldwide research community. Several initiatives took place throughout the year to mark this celebration and raise awareness about this evolution among our members and beyond.

In this context, we are delighted with the fact that two books–Social Enterprise in Latin America and Social Enterprise in Asia– were made available in Open Access this year. That means that all four books stemming from the ICSEM project and the Empower-SE COST Action, including Social Enterprise in Western Europe and Social Enterprise in Central and Eastern Europe, can be now read in Open Access! This encouraging news was complemented by the online Book Presentation Series organized by the EMES Coordination Unit together with our members (volume coordinator and contributors). The goal of this series is to offer a window for the diverse research publications resulting from the joint effort of the EMES community, spanning a variety of subjects and novelties, theoretical and empirical framings, local and global contexts as well as junior and senior authors.

This 2022 was also a year of re-launching the EMES Affinity Groups and incorporating one new Affinity Group, dedicated to social impact in the SE field, known by its acronym, “SISE”. Additionally, EMES participated in different events, such as meetings, conferences and discussions. For example, regular meetings of the UN Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) or the International Conference “The Future of Social Enterprises” held in Coimbra (Portugal). In addition, EMES contributed to the event “Déclic Day” to share the knowledge accumulated during the last 20 years regarding the “SE field” and also to familiarize young Brussels inhabitants with the practice and ecosystem of the SE field.

So, we successfully closed 2022, once again thanks to our members and Board of directors who supported EMES through different stages. We also thank our funders and supporters who made possible one more successful and sustainable year full of gatherings (both online and on-site) and events related to research in the SE field. As usual, we like to close this year with news regarding next year’s Conference.  We will be gathering in September 2023 in Frankfurt (Germany) to hold our 9th International Research Conference on Social Enterprise. You are more than welcome to join our events, which aim at continuing to learn from each other and supporting you, researchers and other stakeholders, which constitute the most important element of our network.

Thank you for being part of our amazing EMES community another year. Together, we continue to make many things possible. On behalf of the Coordination Unit and the Board of Directors, our best wishes for a restful rest, a peaceful end of the year and a promising New Year!

A visual piece created by our designers at CulBuks accompanies our wishes this year that coincides with the motto #9EMESconf.