University of Liverpool Alumnus Supports PhD Research on Social Enterprises
A PhD student in the Management School has been reflecting on conference success in Milan this year, thanks to the support of a Liverpool alumnus who made her PhD possible.
Huw Jenkins (BA Hons Psychology and Sociology 1980) donated to the University of Liverpool to fund a PhD Studentship in social enterprise and entrepreneurship in the University of Liverpool Management School.
Huw, who is Chief Executive Officer of Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners, said: “I am delighted to support research with the potential for real impact at Liverpool. It was a pleasure to meet Sinead last year to hear about her research and I look forward to learning more about her work as it continues.”
Sinead Johnson, who is now in her third year of study, said: “I have grown a lot as a researcher and a person since I started my PhD and I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity. The support of Mr Jenkins has allowed me to fully immerse myself in my studies, advance my research in this fascinating and important area, and participate in several academic conferences, both locally and internationally.”
Sinead’s research focuses on the complex interactions between social enterprises and their institutional environments. Her work explores how social entrepreneurs engage with formal institutions like governments, informal institutions such as societal stakeholders, and other external entities like partner firms. This innovative approach seeks to understand how social enterprises both influence and are influenced by these various elements.
She has participated in conferences organized by the University of Liverpool and its partner universities through the Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI) programme, and applied to attend the prestigious European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) conference, along with its associated PhD workshop.
Her paper for the EGOS conference in Milan this summer, titled "Social Enterprises, Social Issues, and Their Institutional Environments: How Are Social Enterprises Influenced by, and Influencing, Their Whole Institutional Environment?", was selected for the conference sub-theme on "Contextualizing Research on Social Movements and Markets."
Sinead’s PhD is within the Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship subject group, one of six within the University of Liverpool Management School. The Management School is ranked 12th in the sector for research classified as world leading or internationally excellent overall in the latest national REF2021 evaluation, 16th in the sector for research outputs classified as world leading, and 9th in the sector for research power. 100% of our research environment was classified world leading or internationally excellent.