On the first day of the 9th EMES International Research Conference of Social Enterprise, during the Transdisciplinary Forum, participants will have a chance to meet around the themes of education and training on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship (SE).
The Forum on Education and Training on Social Enterprise (FETSE) comprises three sessions with the unique name “The Role of Universities, International Networks, Platforms and Projects in Advancing Social Enterprise Education: Building bridges to connect theory with action“. The aim of this Forum is to discuss how we can rethink and transform SEE education to make it more impactful.
By the words of Bart Leyen, PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the value of this Forum is in “helping to advance Social Enterprise Education (SEE) by bringing together educators, practitioners, and thought leaders to discuss the latest trends and best practices in SEE.”
And effectively, this Forum will bring together educators, practitioners, and thought leaders from across the Social Enterprise (SE) ecosystem to discuss the potential role of universities, national and international networks, platforms and projects in advancing SEE and bridging theory and action.
Across three engaging sessions, FETSE will delve into and discuss key transversal dimensions of SEE, including innovative curriculum development and effective teaching delivery, best practices and tools, and the importance of networks, national and international collaboration and projects. By catalysing dialogue and collaboration among diverse stakeholders, this forum aims to build bridges and open a space for reflection, contributing to empower participants to become influential change agents in effectively delivering SEE within their communities and beyond.
In addition, SEE tends to have a “spill-over” effect in the university community by incorporating values and empowering its own community to drive social transformation. This effect will also be explored during discussions, shedding light on the wider impact and potential of SEE.
Meet some of the speakers:
Bart Leyen 
Bart is a PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium (VUB). His research focuses on building ecosystems for social entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on the role of central institutions in the development of supporting structures for social entrepreneurs. Bart is also an educational assistant at the VUB department of Social sciences & Solvay Business school, where he assists in and teaches courses on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, CSR, and research methods. He also supervises bachelor and master theses. In addition to research and teaching, Bart is involved in the coordination of several international projects about social entrepreneurship. These projects include; P4 VLIR-UOS in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo; ERMIScom an Erasmus+ KA2 project; and ELANET Erasmus+ capacity building with partners in Europe and Latin America. Bart is also a volunteer in the investment committee of Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs, a Belgian organization that helps African social entrepreneurs get investment-ready. Bart is passionate about using social entrepreneurship as a tool to generate positive impact on the world. He demonstrates this through his research, teaching, and involvement in projects that support the development of social entrepreneurs around the world.
Debbi Brock 
Debbi D. Brock is an internationally recognized expert on social entrepreneurship and professional trainer and consultant for various organizations focusing on social innovation and scaling social impact. Brock joined Catalyst 2030, a growing network of social change leaders as the Systems Learning and Development Facilitator in 2021. Brock held multiple posts in higher education, most recently as an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Wingate University for nine years, Berea College and Miami University in Ohio. In 2011, she was awarded the “Distinguished Service to the Field of Social Entrepreneurship Education” by AshokaU and launched the award-winning Social Change Innovators online knowledge resource platform to assist educators to connect and share resources in Social Entrepreneurship Education. Previously, Brock served as the William and Kay Moore Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management and Director of the Entrepreneurship for the Public Good (EPG) program. Brock’s recent publications include “Multi-Disciplinary Involvement in Social Entrepreneurship Education: A Uniquely Threaded Ecosystem” and “Using the Social Entrepreneurship Model to Teach Engineering Students How to Create Lasting Change,” and has won the best practitioner paper and best social entrepreneurship paper at USASBE.
Mihai Lisetchi 
Mihai Lisetchi, PhD, researcher and associate lecturer, West University of Timisoara (Romania), has an extensive experience in the development of social economy organizations (their management and governance), with background in consultative approaches to organizational impact and community integration. He is involved in the study and research of social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, and social innovation concepts, balancing the theory with community practice. His academic interest includes sustainable development and urban development, both from a teaching and project perspectives.
Nicolae Bibu 
Prof. Nicolae Bibu has been a Management professor with the Management department since 1991. He has a strong interest into topics related to organisational management, such as: innovation in Management, Managing by Objectives and Values, performance management, cross-cultural management with a strong know-how transfer from American, Japanese, and European know how into Romania. He has focused on the third sector organisations management, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise. His systemic approach to managing organisations generated a triple-dimension concept of management-performance-evaluation.