PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT BY COMPLETING THE FORM HERE.
We invite contributions to stimulate conversation and debate about using action research to generate theory to improve and enhance practice across diverse settings and contexts.
Please submit an abstract or proposal of not more than 300 words. Include names(s) and affiliations of authors beneath the title of the abstract. The following questions may help to structure your 300-word submission proposal, but please do not feel constrained by these:
What is/was your context?
What was your role?
Who else was involved?
What are/were you enquiring into?
What were you trying to change?
How did you engage with participants?
How did others shape the action taken?
Where did power to influence direction lie?
What knowledge was generated?
What did you do when faced with dilemmas or challenges?
The intention is that contributors will use the opportunity to share the questions, anxieties, joys, tensions, and contradictions that have been provoked for them as they seek to work with action research. Don’t feel you can only present clearly worked out resolutions. Early insights or simply descriptions of the sticky challenges experienced are welcome.
Deadline: 20 April 2025
Please email [email protected] if you have any queries or if you would like to be added to our mailing list.
PLEASE REGISTER BY COMPLETING THE FORM HERE.
Ticket options
| General Admission (Friday, 27th June 2025 - Whole Day) |
€115.00 |
| PhD/Professional Doctorate Workshop and Masterclass (Thursday, 26th June 2025 - Whole Day) |
€45.00 |
| Pre-colloquium Action Research Masterclass (Thursday, 26th June 2025 - Afternoon only) |
€35.00 |
Preliminary Summary Schedule of Events: All events will be held in The School of Education, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare
| Thursday 26th June |
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| PhD & Professional Doctorate Workshop: |
10.00 to 12.30 |
The Doctoral Workshop aims to support Students who are undertaking either Professional or Traditional Doctorates/Masters degrees and are using some mode of action research.
This morning session will be led by
Professor Paul Ellwood, Maynooth University
Dr David Higgins, University of Liverpool
Professor Felicity Kelliher, South East Technological University
Dr Catriona Burke, University Limerick
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| Action Research Masterclass: |
14.00 to 16.00
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A workshop on identifying and appreciating the roots of our action research practical scholarship within the action research community.
This afternoon session will be led by
Professor David Coghlan, Professor Emeritus at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin |
| Friday 27th June |
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Registration:
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09.00 to 09.30 |
In the School of Education, Maynooth University |
| Keynote Presentation: |
09.40 to 10.40 |
"Action Research for Learning and Education"
Professor Kiran Trehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise, Partnerships and Engagement, University of York |
| Coffee Break |
10.40 to 11.00 |
|
| Paper Sessions |
11.00 to 12.35 |
Will be available closer to the date |
| Lunch Break |
12.35 |
In Pugin Hall on the South Campus |
| Paper Sessions |
13.30 to 15.55 |
Will be available closer to the date |
| Keynote Presentation: |
16.00 to 17.00 |
In their book, Theorizing in Organization Studies, Hansen and Madsen (2019) make the case that scholarship is formed in a community or an academic family where academic foundations are laid and developed through mentors, colleagues, reading and meeting at conferences, in shared teaching and working with colleagues. David Coghlan will explore his reflections of becoming an action research scholar-practitioner, ground it in the work of those who have shaped his scholarship and look to how we may continue to develop our scholarship of practice in the community.
Professor David Coghlan, Professor Emeritus at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin |
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Professor David Coghlan
Professor Emeritus at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin |
| David Coghlan is Professor Emeritus at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of several books on action research, including, Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization (Sage, 5th ed 2019) and Conducting Action Research for Business and Management Students (with A.B. Shani, Sage 2018) and is co-editor (with M. Brydon-Miller) of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research (2014). |
| Keynote Presentation: In their book, Theorizing in Organization Studies, Hansen and Madsen (2019) make the case that scholarship is formed in a community or an academic family where academic foundations are laid and developed through mentors, colleagues, reading and meeting at conferences, in shared teaching and working with colleagues. David Coghlan will explore his reflections of becoming an action research scholar-practitioner, ground it in the work of those who have shaped his scholarship and look to how we may continue to develop our scholarship of practice in the community. |
Professor Kiran Trehan
Pro-Vice Chancellor for Enterprise, Partnerships and Engagement
Professor of Entrepreneurship
University of York
[email protected] |
| Professor Kiran Trehan is the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Enterprise, Partnerships, and Engagement and Professor of Enterprise at the University of York. Kiran has spent over 20 years researching issues related enterprise and inclusive innovation policy in the UK and internationally and has published widely in both areas. Professor Trehan is a leading authority in enterprise, and enterprise development, and has significantly shaped debates on business support and policy learning. She has spearheaded numerous initiatives aimed at advancing enterprise and policy learning across diverse contexts.
Professor Trehan is renowned for her expertise in translating academic insights into actionable strategies that address the needs of SMEs, policymakers, and practitioners. Her research embeds the principles of critical action learning in addressing the concerns of practitioners, communities and policymakers.
She actively bridges the gap between research and practice, fostering impactful collaborations with business, policymakers, public services, and community networks. Her contributions extend to her role on a number of regional and government advisory boards and she was elected to be the President of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). ISBE is the leading national body for SME research and policy learning. Professor Trehan has also been the Editor of Action learning Research and Practice. |
| Keynote Presentation: "Action Research for Learning and Education" |
The increasing range of doctoral and research-based degrees now offered has resulted in a renewed interest in action forms of inquiry within Universities. This shift has been prompted by demands from stakeholders for the application of research in practice, e.g. the demands by funding bodies and policy makers for impactful research, and the demands of employers of doctoral graduates to be able to apply their research skills in practice settings. This increased variety of research degrees begs questions for the traditional practices of doctoral supervision. The support of doctoral students in their development and delivery of applied research agendas, requires in turn the deployment of supervision pedagogies and practices appropriate for action modes of inquiry. The aim of this workshop is to explore current practices of supervision, surface points of discussions and examine the prospects for developing innovative and negotiated practices. The workshop will be of interest to both doctoral students and supervisors.
| Thursday 26th June - 10.00 to 12.30 |
The Doctoral Workshop aims to support Students who are undertaking either Professional or Traditional Doctorates/Masters degrees and are using some mode of action research. The morning session will be led by
Professor Paul Ellwood, Maynooth University
Dr David Higgins, University of Liverpool
Professor Felicity Kelliher, South East Technological University
Dr Catriona Burke, University Limerick |
|
Professor Paul Ellwood
Professor of Management Practice, DBA and Executive Education
School of Business
Maynooth University
[email protected] |
| I joined the Maynooth University in 2024 in order to develop a new Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA). I also lecture on MN305 - Innovation Management: Tools and Concepts.
My research interests fall into two distinct areas: research-informed management education pedagogies; and technology management and innovation. I have a particular interest in post-experience management education and online learning. I have taught on MBA, DBA and Executive Education programmes; graduating 17 DBA and 1 PhD students. Current projects include: pedagogies for doctoral suervision; mechanisms for realising research impact through management education; the impact of AI technologies on scientific research practices; and managing for serendipity during new product development.
I have had a rather varied working life. My early education was in the natural sciences (culminating in a PhD in chemistry under the supervision of Nobel Laureate Professor J Fraser Stoddart). I then spent 20 years in a variety of roles within chemistry-using industries including director-level positions in manufacturing and business development. I have also worked in a Regional Development Agency and run my own management consultancy business. A switch from natural to social sciences was accomplished following a PhD in Management Studies on the subject of responsible innovation. Previous academic appointments were at the University of Leeds and the University of Liverpool. |
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Dr David Higgins
Senior Lecturer in Management
School of Management
University of Liverpool
[email protected] |
| David has several years’ experience in teaching and researching in both Entrepreneurship and Executive Education in the university sector. He is an active scholar in the field of entrepreneurship education and learning; hosting over 40 plus publications to date in journals, books, book chapters and conference outputs. David has published his work in journals such as “International Small Business Journal; International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business; Journal of Management Inquiry” to name but a few, serving as guest editor for such journals as International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research (IJEBR) and Industry and Higher Education. David is a former Editor of the Journal of Action Learning: Research and Practice and currently serves as an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Management Education.
David is currently serving as a Board Member to the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, previously David has served on the Institute of Small Business (ISBE) Board where he was actively involved in building their scholarly community serving as Vice President for Communities / Scholarship. He currently acts as track chair for the newly developed “RMPI" (Research Methods, Practice and Inquiry/Impact) track. Coupled to this he holds a position on the British Academy of Management Research Methods Special Interest Group steering community, where he has developed and hosted many professional development workshops for research students, academics and practitioners at DBA and PhD levels of study. As a scholar in Entrepreneurship & Management Development, David through his research and teaching interests has developed a strong awareness for the importance of using innovative forms of teaching and research. This has been supported through three ESRC bursary awards which he was awarded in 2008, 2010 & 2012. David’s primary teaching duties are in the areas of Entrepreneurship and Doctoral Supervision. |
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Professor Falicity Kelliher, PhD, MBA, BBS
Professor of Management Practice
Academic Lead at the BRIM-RIKON Research Centre
South East Technological University (SETU), Ireland
[email protected] |
| Felicity Kelliher is a Professor of Management Practice and Co-Founder and Academic Lead at the BRIM-RIKON Research Centre at the Faculty of Business, South East Technological University (SETU), Ireland. An experienced principal investigator (PI), research supervisor and mentor, Felicity specialises in action research and longitudinal interpretive case methods. She studies management capability development in micro, small and medium sized enterprise (MSME) with a particular interest in rural business and have engaged with over 1200 SMEs through her research. A Fulbright Scholar, Felicity has published in the Journals of: Tourism Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and Small Business and Enterprise Development, among others and has co-edited/authored three books. Felicity was development lead and Director of the DBA programme at SETU (2009-2015), is past Chair of the Irish Academy of Management and is a member of Our Rural Future Higher Education and Research Network, Department of Rural and Community Development, Ireland. |
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Dr Catriona Burke (Ph.D Strategic Organization)
Associate Professor
Department of Management & Marketing
Kemmy Business School
University of Limerick
[email protected] |
| An award winning scholar, Catriona's research sits at the intersection of strategy and organization. It aims to extend emerging policy, practice and scholarship debates on significant societal and organisational mega-trends and contemporary developments. Her current projects explore complexity, uncertainty, responsibility and the increasing liquidity of work and society.
Advocating a phenomenon-based, engaged scholarship philosophy, Catriona also has significant expertise working with leaders in the enactment of systemic, transformative and sustainable change and the development of responsible praxis for sustainable futures. Conceptually, her work is governed by Aristotelian notions of practical wisdom, pragmatist sociological and critical management perspectives, together with processual and practice-based approaches to knowledge, collaborative action and decision making.
Her research has been published in a variety of top tier journals, including Human Relations, Human Resource Management and the International Journal of Project Management. She sits on the Editorial Boards of European Management Review, The International Journal of Project Management, and Projects, Leadership & Society.
She is an active member of the Responsible Research in Business and Management network (RRBM), the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School Organization Theory Research Group (OTREG) and the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). She sits on the UN PRME Sustainability Mindset Working Group and is a Fellow of the Centre for Evidence Based Management. Furthermore, Catriona is an elected member of of the Council of the Irish Academy of Management (IAM), the leading learned association for the advancement of organization and management studies in Ireland. She is the Founding Director of the highly innovative Kemmy Business School DBA programme (Sustainability, Leadership and Systemic Transformation), and is also an elected member of the UL Academic Council.
Prior to joining academia, Catriona gained over a decade of significant senior management experience across a variety of sectors with her diverse achievements including the leadership of extensive organisational change, large scale operational efficiency and complex regulatory and IT development programmes. |
We are 33km south-west of Dublin Airport (40 minutes by car).
Multiple international airlines fly in to Dublin Airport, from all over the World making us an accessible option for international guests.
Visit the Dublin Airport website for flight details.
If you require a letter to obtain a Visa for your visit please email [email protected]
