Research Seminar Series: Chalk and cheese?: reflections on social, sustainable and 'mainstream' entrepreneurship education

In this seminar, Professor Richard Blundel will share his experiences as an entrepreneurship researcher and educator.  He will reflect on the growing significance of social and sustainable entrepreneurship in the worlds of research, policy and practice, and discuss some of the conceptual and practical challenges this poses for students and teachers.

Biography:

Professor Richard Blundel studied at the London School of Economics (BSc Econ), Bradford University (MBA) and The University of Birmingham (PhD).  Before embarking on an academic career, he worked for the former Inner London Education Authority, the National Audit Office, a specialist marketing research consultancy and a diversified multinational company. He taught at Brunel University prior to joining The Open University (in 2009), where he is currently Professor of Enterprise and Organisation in the Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the ESRC Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey. Richard’s research examines the growth process in smaller firms, including craft-based enterprises, and he is particularly interested in the links between entrepreneurial activity, innovation and environmental sustainability.  He chaired the production of a new 60 point OU undergraduate module B205 Exploring Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and was part  of the authoring team for B327 Creating Futures: Sustainable Enterprise and Innovation.  He is also co-author of the textbook Exploring Entrepreneurship 2^nd edition (Sage, 2017), with Nigel Lockett (Lancaster University) and Catherine Wang (Brunel University).