Dr Maria Granados is a Senior Lecturer, researcher, knowledge manager and social enterprise consultant with experience in the private, social economy and academic sectors. Maria's research interests are mostly on 'enterprising at human scale' and focuses on understanding social initiatives at micro/local/bottom-up level and learn from them while co-creating the conditions for them to thrive; people empowered in their right to earn a living and develop formally in the economy by enterprising as oppose to an employment route, arising out from their own initiative and commitment; and field-based social innovations in local development context with a prime interest in grassroots around the world, with emphasis on the global south. She has projects in Brazil, Colombia and the UK exploring social enterprises, social innovations, community-based enterprises, barefoot and informal entrepreneurship, waste pickers, low-skilled low-waged migrants, and spiral economy. Most recently, she was awarded funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust (2019, £10k) to explore the struggles of waste pickers in the Colombian informal economy to inform policy and practice. http://www.linkedin.com/in/mlgranados
Dr Ainurul Rosli is an Entrepreneurship Team Coach and Entrepreneurial Mindset Practitioner. She believes in the importance of university-industry-community interaction and research with impact, which drives forward businesses and societal transformation. She has worked with urban, rural, young and senior aspiring entrepreneurs to create value. Driven by entrepreneurship, collaboration and the desire for social innovation, she co-founded several impact driven social enterprises both in the UK and Malaysia, including Social Innovation Movement (SIM). She has secured major grants for her research and won several competitive awards. She is currently a Reader in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and serving as the Director of Business Engagement, at the Brunel Business School, UK. Ainurul is also co-chairing the Practice and Impact Special Interest Group of Institute of Small Business Enterprise (ISBE), UK. www.linkedin.com/in/ainurulrosli
Dr Manto Gotsi is holds a PhD in Marketing from Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, a BA (Hons) in Marketing from the University of Strathclyde and a PG Cert (with distinction) in Technology Venture Creation from the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde. Prior to joining Birkbeck, Manto was a Reader in Marketing and the Research Leader for the School of Management and Marketing at the University of Westminster. Previously, she was a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Cardiff Business School. Manto’s research focuses on organizational paradoxes – how organizational leaders, teams and individuals effectively respond to competing demands and resulting tensions. She studies paradoxes predominantly in innovation management and corporate (re)branding, but also in entrepreneurship and other areas. The theoretical lens that she employs varies depending on the study, but Manto enjoys using an identity lens. She also enjoys conducting multi-level studies.