The UK Society for Co-operative Studies (UKSCS) has launched a call for papers for its 2020 Conference, which will be hosted at Lincoln International Business School from 2-4 October.
The event will explore issues around the politics, policies, and practices of co-operative movements as, even with agreed values and principles, co-ops have often wrestled with a wide range of political agendas, policy environments and (democratic) management practices.
To create the agenda for this year’s conference, UKSCS members participated in a democratic process at its AGM which developed and voted on key themes for the 2020 conference. In doing so, they considered feedback from the 2018 conference recommending fewer parallel tracks and larger discussion groups.
The call for papers, issued on behalf os UKSCS by Professor Rory Ridley-Duff (Sheffield Hallam University) and Dr Jan Myers (Northumbria University), invites proposal submissions for presentations, papers, panels and practical activities. The proposals can be oriented towards generating debates and engaging members, facilitating experiential learning activities or reporting the findings of research studies.
The call particularly welcomes contributions by practitioners who wish to share developments within their co-operative enterprise and/or network on the emergence of new thinking; how new thinking has been applied to accounting, management, marketing or governance in co-operatives; and how new practices have impacted on producer, worker and consumer members (and other stakeholders).
“We invite contributions that explore the character and identity of co‑operatives, and their links to social, economic and political thinking,” said UKSCS. “How do these linkages manifest today and shape members’ participation in management?”
The deadline for proposals (abstracts) is 30 May 2020, with successful applicants notified by 1 July. Registration for the conference opens on 1 July. For more information, click here.
