Confreat 2015 Summary

Posted on August 20, 2015

Dr Sally Jones organised and hosted the first GENSIG ‘Confreat’, on the 15th and 16th of July at Leeds University Business School. Part conference and part writing retreat, the event attracted 25 scholars from the UK and Europe.

With an emphasis on career development for doctoral and early career researchers, the confreat focused on publishing, teaching and impact and attendees’ papers were reviewed by expert and experienced gender and enterprise scholars, including Professor Susan Marlow (University of Nottingham), Professor Helle Neergaard (Aarhus University) and Dr Maura McAdam (Queens University, Belfast). All delegates received individual feedback during the confreat to help identify relevant, high-quality journals and to develop their papers for publication.

The event was a great success, with new research partnerships and ideas for impact and teaching already emerging. Professor Julia Rouse, co-chair of the Gender and Enterprise SIG, hopes this will become an annual event for GENSIG, saying “We had a rather magical couple of days watching a group of around 25 ECRs blossom as they received feedback on their work from skilled reviewers and peers. The delegates asked for regular confreats and expressed huge gratitude for the development on offer.”