News from CREME
Academics and business practitioners gathered in Brussels on 23 February 2016 at the invitation of the European Commission to discuss migrant entrepreneurship. The Commission is keen to encourage entrepreneurship as a means promoting the economic and social integration of the growing number of migrants arriving in Europe.
CREME's Professor Monder Ram was invited as the expert speaker for the UK and provided an overview of the evidence on migrant entrepreneurship, as well as the practical initiatives that the Centre has developed to make a difference to minority entrepreneurs. There were examples of good practice from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. It's clear that migrant entrepreneurship is high on the agenda of the Commission. CREME is following developments closely, and will be convening its own international Conference with this theme at the University of Birmingham on April 14-15 2016', with leading academics in the field from Princeton and Yale amongst those speaking on the day.
CREME are hosting an international conference on 14 April where we will be welcoming leading academics in the field to discuss transnational entrepreneurship. as a key partner in the International European Funded Diasporalink (this can link to the project page on UoB website) programme.
Among those joining us for the discussion will be:
- Professor Alejandro Portes (Princeton) https://sociology.princeton.edu/faculty/alejandro-portes
- Professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly (Princeton) https://sociology.princeton.edu/faculty/patricia-fernandez-kelly
- Professor Ivan Light (UCLA) http://www.sociology.ucla.edu/faculty/ivan-light
- Professor Frederick Wherry (Yale) http://sociology.yale.edu/people/frederick-wherry
- Professor Benson Honig (McMaster) http://www.degroote.mcmaster.ca/profiles/benson-honig/
They will be joining CREME’s Director, Professor Monder Ram to discuss migrant entrepreneurship and Professor Portes’s latest book, “The State and the Grassroots – Immigrant Transnational Organizations in Four Continents”. The conference will be held at the University of Birmingham and attendance will be strictly by invitation only. Please contact Sophie Sinclair, CREME Centre Manager for further details s.c.sinclair@bham.ac.uk
CREME’s Centre Manager, Sophie Sinclair was nominated and took part as a judge for the Shell Livewire Smarter Future Programme competition in March. The Smarter Future Programme supports young entrepreneurs with smart and innovative ideas that meet the energy and resource needs of a fast-growing population. The new programme awards a start-up grant of £500 to each month to one 16-30 year old entrepreneur with an idea that addresses the world’s future transport, food, energy, or natural resource challenges, or makes our urban environments cleaner and more sustainable places to live. You can find out more about the programme here.
Professor Christina Goulding has recently taken over the role of Associate Editor for qualitative and critical research for The European Journal of Marketing.
Monder Ram and Yipeng Liu visited China from 7 - 13 March 2016 Director of CREME Monder Ram and new CREME member Yipeng Liu were in China to discuss potential research partnerships in entrepreneurship with a variety of institutions. It is hoped this visit will forge new relationships for CREME with potential partners in China, offering the possibility of future collaborations to carry out more in-depth international research into entrepreneurship and further strengthen the Business School’s bonds with China. See how the trip went with Yipeng's travel-log: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/business/research/creme/news/2016/march/monder-yipeng-china-visit.aspx
Kiran Trehan (Professor of Leadership and Enterprise Development) has been recently appointed as the CoSS Business Engagement Academic Lead. Professor Trehan will be the College academic lead for oversight, development and delivery of the College’s Business Engagement portfolio. She will be a member of College Research & Knowledge Transfer Committee and the wider University Business Engagement network. Kiran will be responsible for working closely with the College’s Business Engagement Partner, Andy Newnham, to develop and implement the CoSS Business Engagement Strategy, which is part of the University’s Business Engagement Strategy and supports the University Strategic Framework.