I have earned a reputation as a national and international expert in my research field with a proven record in securing external and prestigious research funding through interdisciplinary, comparative and cross-regional research. My research informs the public and contributes to policy. I have an extensive track record of statutory and community stakeholder research reports. My research impact is articulated in diverse fora including public and community-based research seminars, commissioned reports, international podcasts and peer-reviewed journals.

If re-elected to the board of EMES I will continue to serve the collective interests of EMES and its membership base. In particular I will continue to assume responsibilities for institutional sustainability related tasks including the continuation of my role of Short Term Scientific Manager (COST Action 16202) and co-organising the 2020 EMES International PhD Summer School at UCC.

I am assistant professor in Sociology at the Faculty of Economics of Coimbra University (FEUC), researcher at the Centre for Social Studies and at the Center for Cooperative and Social Economy Studies of FEUC. I am co-coordinator of the Sociology PhD Program and of the Post-graduation in Social Economy. I hold a PhD in Sociology from Lancaster University (UK). My first EMES conference was in 2005 and I’ve been involved in it since then. I participated in the EMES conferences with several roles, in the Summer Schools and in the FETSE steering committee. I am member of the EMES board since2015 and I am involved in collective research projects (ICSEM, Mapping).

I’ve been acting as a Vice-chair of the COST Action EMPOWER-SE and soon I will take on the role of Chair. I am also organising with other colleagues the 3rd WG2 Research Workshop on “Unlocking the transformative potential of culture and the arts through SE” which I intend to contribute to become a vibrant topic at EMES and an affinity group.

EMES has embarked in a new strategic planning effort in light of the consolidation and transformation needed to cope with a new phase in the development of the network. This strategic planning effort is the result of the voluntary commitment of a whole human and intellectual community and especially the EMES Coordination Unit and the Board. The Strategic Plan covers the next three years (2019-2021) and it aims to help reshape EMES in that time framework.

I feel committed to strengthening the institutional capacity of the Coordination Unit as the concrete operational unit of the network. This capacity includes the financial capacity to ensure its viability but also a transparent and active governance and increasing systematization that allows to improve processes and take stock of the organizational knowledge accumulated. The Board of Directors of EMES constitutes a key governance body for the network that ensures that the necessary strategy guidance and resources are available to ensure that the strategic mission of the organization is accomplished. With this new board, I want to contribute to strengthen the collaborative work where each board member could assume specific responsibilities related to EMES activities or governance with recognition.

The second one, just published in 2019, “Theory of social enterprise and pluralism:  Social Movements, Solidarity Economy, and Global South” co-edited with Laville J.L., Dos Santos L.L., Banerjee S., Hulgård H., Avelino F. aiming to engage a multicontinental and pluridisciplinary discussion in order to provide a pluralist theory of social enterprise.

Since the beginning of my research work, I have been a regular member of EMES Network. The EMES conference has been for me a place for meeting outstanding international researchers and for increasing my knowledge thanks to the quality of academic debates inside the network. As a board member, I will be ready to be the correspondent for Polanyi-EMES seminars and to enrich the debate between Polanyian studies and social enterprise studies. I will be also ready to look for the needed funding to support EMES’ financial stability. I know personally many members of the EMES board and I will be pleased and honored to work with them to make EMES network stronger and to keep enlarging its reach.

I have a strong interest in the micro-processes of social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, social economy and social innovation like entrepreneuring, innovating and coproducing, intersectionality, gender and generation, learning, culture and hybridity as well as macro-processes like how the welfare state hinders, facilitates and is being transformed be the SE’s.

I am a nominee from CSE and am very pleased to state, that our engagement in EMES will continue and be strengthened by the dedicated full academic staff at CSE. For the past decades, CSE has been involved in almost all the variety of EMES activities: planning and executing research networks, conferences, summer schools, strategic policy works as well as research proposals and other carry outs. I – and CSE colleagues – value the strengths of EMES so far: research-based networks including early-stage and longtime experienced researchers, engaging scholars from many places in the world, providing insights in cutting-edge research and facilitating research funding. Our future priorities should be to further strengthen the differentiated profile of EMES: further develop in depth small research communities on specific topics, large scale international EMES conferences of the broadest scope, summer schools engaging early stage researchers, develop new research applications promoting networks and scientific undertakings on the frontiers of SEs and strengthen the digital platforms for the EMES communities.

Euricse has served on the EMES Board of Directors since its founding through its president Carlo Borzaga and then through its senior researcher Giulia Galera, who is now running for a second term. Giulia is co-leading the Euricse/EMES in-progress “Mapping the social enterprise and its ecosystems in Europe” funded by DG Employment. She has recently contributed to organizing the COST WG2 Research Seminar “Tackling the migration and refugee challenge” and is presently leading the COST WG3 on Social Enterprise Ecosystems. Giulia’s research interests include the determinants of social enterprise and their competitive advantages, analysing the ecosystems where they operate up to investigating the innovative fields of engagement and the new societal challenges they tackle. She has studied the design of new pathways to integrate migrants in receiving societies by social enterprises and the social transformations triggered by social enterprises engaged in the fields of culture and art.

In line with EMES Strategic Plan, Euricse will: propose the submission of new EU research projects; launch the creation of an EMES affinity group focused on migration with a view to carrying out new interdisciplinary research and/or training activities; and further promote the consolidation of EMES’ membership base.

She is co-responsible of the MA specialised in the management of social economy and solidarity organisations of the Aix-Marseille University. She is member of research networks at national and international levels (e.g. EMES, CIRIEC, RIUESS). She has developed research works on social economy organisations, their evolution and interactions with public policies, social innovation, quality of work and new forms of governance. In particular, she studied childcare and personal home care services. Recently, she participated in the European research project on Third Sector Impact (TSI) and realised the French report of the European “Mapping Social enterprises and their ecosystem” with Nadine Richez-Battesti. She is also member of the ICSEM Project and of the COST Action Empower-SE. The LEST and Aix-Marseille University organised the 6th EMES-COST training school in Marseille in June 2018.

She would like to stay for a second mandate in the EMES Board to ensure some continuity with what has been done so far within the board. She would like to get involved and meet the challenge to ensure the “sustainable” development of EMES in the next years. She would like to foster the participation of French-speaking scholars and students in EMES activities.  In terms of contributions, she could be the secretary of the board if necessary and/or get involved in the organization of an affinity group.

As someone who has traditionally identified as a civil society/nonprofit rather than a social enterprise scholar, I feel I can play a strong role in bridging, exchanging and stimulating opportunities for fostering a vibrant and pluralistic EMES research community – one of the network’s strategic goals.

If elected, I will bring established relationships and connections with other allied international research associations such as ARNOVA, and its journal Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, enhancing opportunities for collaboration and mutual learning within the respective co-ordination units and research communities. One of my major passions is doctoral education. I would like to focus on the network’s strategic priority of ‘enhancing participation and empowerment of members’ but with an emphasis on emerging scholars. Specifically, I see opportunities to deepen and extend the success of EMES Summer Schools through a systematic approach to developmental activities for the next generation of scholars in our field. This may include workshops on publishing, navigating the recruitment process or managing an academic career within EMES events (e.g. conferences) and the potential for a mentoring scheme. I am enthusiastic to engage more generally in supporting the coordination unit with conference organization.

In research, social enterprise and topics closely related to this field attracts an increasing number of researchers. We now have a vivid academic environment – across disciplinary boundaries as well as beyond the university’s boundaries through collaboration with other academic and non-academic actors. Social enterprise fits Södertörn University’s profile characterized by critical thinking, informed citizenship and the conversion towards a more sustainable development.

With a nomination for election to the board through its representative, Malin Gawell, Södertörn University wants to step up and intensify its efforts to contribute to the development of this field through conversation, organization and mobilization of resources for continued research related to social enterprise role to meet contemporary challenges in society. The nomination also includes commitment to enhance participation and empowerment of members of the research community within this field through encouragement and the organizing of particular activities supporting this development. Not the least, this includes an involvement in support to PhD candidates and possibly also to organize a PhD summer school in the Nordic setting the next coming years.