On behalf of the ISBE board of trustees, Special Interest Groups and Communities of Interest, the ISBE ECR Forum is delighted to announce the availability of 13 complimentary places available for Early Career Researcher members who have had an abstract accepted at its 2019 conference taking place in Newcastle upon Tyne 14-15 November 2019.
This new initiative is part of the Institute’s commitment to supporting the personal and career development of the next generation of entrepreneurship and small business scholars. It recognises that conference participation is a highly important developmental activity for Early Career Researchers but that these scholars can often face barriers to such endeavour. The availability of complimentary places seeks to make it easier for ECRs to attend the conference.
Am I eligible for consideration of a complimentary place?
If you self-define as an Early Career Researcher of small business or entrepreneurship and plan to present a paper at this year’s conference, you are eligible to apply for a complimentary place.
How do I apply to be considered for a complimentary place?
To be considered for a complimentary place, you should complete the application form at the end of this webpage. This form will ask you to do the following:
Provide your name, institutional and contact details. You should indicate whether you are a current doctoral student and your current year of study or, if already awarded your doctorate, the year of award.
After specifying your current research area and interests, you should choose the ONE SIG/COI with which your current research most closely aligns (SIG/COI list). In the event that you feel that your current research does not readily align with any of SIGs/COIs listed, you should tick the ECR Forum box. You must also be a signed-up member of the relevant SIG/COI (or ECR Forum) – to do this, please click here.
You should confirm that you have had an abstract accepted to the conference and provide the title of the paper and track to which this was submitted.
A written statement [of no longer than 300 words]which specifically outlines why you would like to be considered for a complimentary place should be provided as part of your application. This statement might give reference to how you hope to benefit from attendance and any factors which might otherwise prevent your participation.
One place will be allocated per SIG/COI. Decisions as to which applicants should be awarded places will be made by SIG/COI organising committees on the basis of the application form submitted. All decisions are final.
Successful applicants will be awarded a complimentary place to attend the full two-day duration of the conference. The recipients of complimentary places will however need to fund any travel and accommodation costs associated with their attendance. Please note that the cost of the Gala Dinner is NOT included.
Some SIGs/COIs may have limited funds to contribute to additional costs. Applicants should contact the relevant SIG/COI Chair(s) directly.
Once decisions on abstracts have been made available mid-May, completed applications should be submitted to the ISBE office at The extended deadline for applications to be submitted is 5pm (UK), Monday, July the 1st.
Confirmation of receipt of applications will be provided and all applicants will be informed as to the outcome of their application before Friday, July the 19th.
Are there any specific expectations on the recipients of the complimentary conference places?
Those who are successfully awarded a complimentary conference place are expected to commit to attending paper sessions, workshops and meetings associated with, or relevant to, the SIG or COI which has awarded their place.
Successful applicants are expected to liaise with the Chair(s) of the SIG or COI awarding their place prior to the conference to informally discuss whether there are any specific tasks that they might undertake during or immediately after the conference to raise awareness of that SIG/COI. Such tasks will be as deemed useful by the SIG/COI but might include making posts to social media during the conference or writing a post-conference review on behalf of the SIG/COI which summarises pertinent conference discussions.
Additionally, there is an expectation that all recipients of complimentary places will share their conference experiences with ECR Forum committee members.
If you have any further queries in relation to this initiative please contact Kayleigh Watson
Application form