Last June, over 60 participants, PhDs, early career researchers, faculty members and practitioners joined the 8th EMES International Training School, to share and discuss their work and put in common experience in building an interdisciplinary and integrated knowledge on the “SE fields” – social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, social economy and solidarity economy, and social innovation.
Our 8th edition of Summer Training school entitled “The key role of social enterprises and the social and solidarity economy in post-pandemic societies”, took place at the University of Seville (Spain).
The four-day event was hosted jointly by EMES and the Department of Applied Economy I from the University of Seville (US) and included a variety of lectures, roundtables and methodological workshops, in addition to the working groups where PhDs and Early Career Researchers work more closely for the duration of the school coordinated by several members of the Faculty body. We also had a chance to host incredible sector experts such as Susanne Westhausen, CEO of the Danish apex organisation for cooperatives since 2007, Kooperationen, and president of Cooperatives Europe, the researchers from European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), OECD, EBN and sector representatives in Andalusia such as FAECTA, UNEI, Smart-ib Coop.
However, all of this would not have been possible without the engagement of a dedicated local organising team and local partners but above all, it would be impossible to even imagine all this without the Faculty body members and our participants.
Based on gathered formal and informal feedback during the Training school, we closed this edition of EMES International Training school successfully and will continue to work to improve the next editions, making sure that future events serve PhDs and ECRs and benefit the quality of their research while providing social and networking aspects.
Caterina Rosini, PhDs candidate from Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), confirms that there are good reasons which make attending these events worthwhile for PhDs students: “Two weeks ago, the EMES Summer School started in Seville, and days later, I am still collecting valuable feedback and opinions on my project. It was an intense week full of connections, and as my first experience in the EMES network, I discovered a beautiful reality of professionals and researchers who believe a better world is possible, putting people and values first.”
During the Training school, an early career researchers (ECR) group was led by Professors Linda Lundgaard Andersen from Roskilde University (Denmark) and Michael Roy from Glasgow Caledonian University (UK). Regarding the first-time experience at the EMES event, Anna Waligóra from Poznan University of Economics and Business (Poland) shared with us: “The week was filled with fruitful work with #8EMEStrainingschool on SE field. To make a long story short, It was a great growing time in Sevilla 🙂 Thank you for creating a unique environment for development and growth. A lot of “invisible” work I appreciate! Also, thanks to my colleagues from the group ECR for inspiring discussions…. and there were a lot more great scholars from the field there!”
Pushkar Aditya, a PhD student from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, came all the way from India for the EMES Training school. He summarises his experience: “For the first time, I attended Summer School of EMES Network, and it was a great experience because I work in this area of social and solidarity economy in India. The opportunity to learn more about the European perspective was extremely important. Also, there was a chance to socialise with colleagues, so I look forward to the next EMES event.”
The ECRs and PhDs constitute a central part of EMES, as shown by the special membership category for PhD students, the seat reserved for PhD students on the EMES Board of Directors, the blog dedicated to EMES Junior Experts, and the existence of active groups (Facebook group, and the EMES Alumni Network).
You can join us as an EMES member here.
In all, we express our deep gratitude to all of those joining us in Seville and hope you enjoyed the #8EMEStrainingschool and that together we will embrace the opportunities it brings.