DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS 24th January 2025 The Association of Business Historians conference 2025 will be held in Belfast, UK, from 19 to 21 June 2025 and invites submissions to the conference committee on the theme of ‘Business History Applied’.
Applied history, the use of the past to inform understanding of current challenges and support decision making, is a growing field. It is creating an interesting intersection between business history, numerous management disciplines, and areas of practice. Expanding literatures in various fields are examining how the histories of organizations and individuals are used, proactively and implicitly, through mechanisms such as memory, artefacts, rhetoric, and narratives, to contextualize the organization, managers, entrepreneurs, and the environments in which they operate. This sense making is shown to shape routines, practices, and decisions. This is opening exciting collaborative approaches and the development of methodologies to the historical study of organizations and individuals. Outside the academy, demand for historically informed analysis amongst policy makers, corporate decision makers, and actors in civil society is also growing. Historical reasoning, using analogues, precedents, and long run trends, is important in the development of deeper understanding of contemporary challenges in business and the economy, and has the potential to improve decision making. Business historians are well-positioned to make significant contributions with this agenda both inside and outside the academy. We invite participants in considering the conference theme to reflect on these opportunities and challenges - We also welcome papers and panels on any aspect of business history and will look to develop a diverse programme for the conference. How to submit a paper or session proposal The programme committee will consider both individual papers and entire panels. We are keen to encourage both developmental and mature papers. Individual paper proposals should include a one-page (up to 300-word) abstract with title of the presentation and brief biographical note. Panel proposals should include a cover letter stating the title and rationale for the panel and the name of its contact person; one-page (300-word) abstract and author's CV for each paper; and a list of preferred panel chairs and commentators with contact information. The deadline for submissions is 24th January 2025. The ABH Conference organiser is Dr Michael Aldous. The Program Committee intend to send notifications of acceptance as soon as possible once the deadline has passed. All questions and queries regarding the conference should be directed to Michael Aldous at ABH2025@qub.ac.uk Queen’s Business School (https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/queens-business-school/) is part of Queen’s University Belfast. The university has a long tradition supporting business and economic history and the business school is currently home to the Queen’s University Centre for Economic History (https://www.quceh.org.uk/), Centre for Economics, Politics, and History (https://ceph.ie/), and is associated with the Long Run Institute (https://longruninstitute.com/). Belfast is a fascinating city steeped in business and economic history. Its industrial and maritime legacies have left an extensive footprint to explore in the city and wider region. The city is rich in culture and lots of fun. It is well-connected by two international airports. --- Poster submissions The conference a welcomes poster proposals from graduate students on all aspects of business history. Poster presenters will normally be in either the First or Second Year of their PhD. We also strongly encourage those who have previously presented a poster to submit a paper proposal to the main conference in a subsequent year. Those wishing to be considered for inclusion in the programme must submit an application to Dr Michael Aldous (ABH2025@qub.ac.uk) by 24th January 2025. This should provide:
Approved posters must be submitted by 1 June 2025, and a style guide will be circulated to all presenters selected for poster presentations. --- Call for Tony Slaven Doctoral Workshop in Business History, 19 June 2025 The ABH will hold its twelfth annual Tony Slaven Doctoral Workshop on 19 June 2025. This event immediately precedes the ABH Conference, and will take place at Queens Business School, Queen’s University Belfast. Participants in the Workshop are encouraged to attend the ABH Conference following the Workshop. They will also have an opportunity to participate in the Poster Competition (explained in the main call for papers). The Workshop is an excellent opportunity for doctoral students to discuss their work with other research students and established academics in business history in an informal and supportive environment. Students at any stage of their doctoral studies, whether in their first year or very close to submitting, are urged to apply. The workshop provides new researchers with an opportunity to discuss their work with experienced researchers in the discipline, and also includes professional development sessions. The Workshop interprets the term ‘business history’ broadly, and it is intended that students in areas such as (but not confined to) the history of management and organizations, international trade and investment, financial or economic history, agricultural history, the history of not-for- profit organisations, government-industry relations, accounting history, social studies of technology, and historians or management or labour will find it useful. Students undertaking topics with a significant business history element but in disciplines other than economic or business history are also welcome. We embrace students researching any era or region of history. Each student delivers a 15-minute presentation that is either (depending on how developed your project is) a summary of your PhD prospectus giving an overview of the overarching themes, research questions, and methodologies, or a specific chapter/paper. Time is devoted for discussion of each student’s work and the opportunity to gain feedback from active researchers in the field. How to Apply for the Tony Slaven Workshop Your application should be no more than 4 pages sent together in a single computer file: 1) a one-page CV; 2) one page stating the name(s) of the student’s supervisor(s), the title of the theses (a proposed title is fine), the university and department where the student is registered and the date of commencement of thesis registration; 3) an abstract of the work to be presented. You may apply via email to Dr Michael Aldous at ABH2025@qub.ac.uk. Please use the subject line “Tony Slaven Workshop” and submit by 24 March 2024. --- Coleman Prize 2025 The ABH is pleased to announce that the 2025 Coleman Prize is open to PhD dissertations in Business History (broadly defined) having either a British subject or completed at a British university. All dissertations completed in the previous two calendar years (2023 and 2024) are eligible. In keeping with the ABH’s broad understanding of business history, applications are strongly encouraged from candidates in economic history, social history, labour history, intellectual history, cultural history, environmental history, the history of science and technology, the history of medicine, or any other subfield. To apply for the Coleman Prize, supervisors are encouraged to nominate recent PhDs. Self-nominations are also strongly welcomed. Please send a PDF including the title of your PhD dissertation and a brief abstract (up to 2 double-spaced pages) to Dr Juan Jose Rivas Moreno at juanjose.rivasmoreno@eui.eu by 14 February 2025. The abstract should make clear the dissertation’s contribution to business history. Longlisted candidates will be requested to submit electronic copies of their dissertations 14 March 2025. Finalists will be notified by 9 May 2025. It is a condition of eligibility for the Prize that finalists will present their findings in-person at the Association’s annual conference. In a new special series hosted by the New Books Network, Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo is interviewing prior Coleman Prize winners on their dissertations, some of which have already been published as monographs. More information on these interviews can be found at the link here: https://www.theabh.org/news/2023/8/22/coleman-prize-series-winners-podcast-by-bernardo-btiz-lazo You're currently a free subscriber to Organizational History Network. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Wednesday, 8 January 2025
Association of Business Historians 2025
Tuesday, 7 January 2025
[Blog Post] Bad Morning, Didi! (Part 2)
Is Autism A Disorder?
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Monday, 6 January 2025
When I'm doing differently for 2025 and beyond
The times, they are a-changin’. We are in the middle of a phase shift. I think we’re at a moment when the norms and practices in higher education, research, teaching, university operations, staffing, publishing, and beyond are evolving much faster than the baseline rate. The media environment has changed. If I were to invoke a biology metaphor here, I the right one would be punctuated equilibrium, in which right now is a moment of punctuation. Why are things changing right now? Barrels of electrons have been spilled on this topic, and beyond the need to recognize the reality that the ascending oligarchy in the United States has big plans for dismantling universities, harming non-white people, and changing on what research gets funded. I’ll leave how and why this is happening, for the sociologists, historians, political scientists, and such. Because we are in a state of disequilibrium, if we do things the way that we always have done them, we won’t be served as well. We’ve got to read the landscape and adapt. Lately, I’ve been asking myself: how should I, as an academic working in a university, change what I’m doing to get by in this rapidly changing and more challenging environment? What’s the right thing to do? How can I get by knowing that I can’t possibly be allocating time and effort into every Right Thing in a world where a lot of things are so wrong? I don’t have all the answers, but I think I’ve developed some clarity during my holiday break, with the benefit of rest and perspective of a sabbatical. Here are some things. I’m stepping away from the daily news cycle. It does the world no good for me to be hyper-aware of every piece of misconduct, misappropriation, and malice. (This got a bit easier to do since I ended up cancelling my subscriptions to The Washington Post, New York Times, and The Atlantic, as they’ve clearly bent the knee to the new administration.) Now I’m staying apprised with The New Yorker and The Guardian, and some newsletters. And I’m also finding that Bluesky is a very good way to know stay in tune to things, and by choosing my follows carefully, I can do this without falling into a pit of doom. I’m making a point to listen to people who are focused on hope and possibility, focused on doing work to create positive change, and people who are an effective filter to keep me informed about what I feel I need to know about. I’m embracing my role as a public scholar, and am intentionally choosing my lane(s) for leadership and engagement. Universities are under attack by the ruling party because what we are doing matters, and that means we’ve got to keep up our public roles to reinforce the value of our work. We know that expertise matters, and that evidence-based decisions making matters. Let’s keep pushing beyond the borders of our classrooms and institutions. I’ll be doing this actively thinking about the scale at which these efforts are best invested. I’m pushing against the proliferation of AI into spaces where it’s harmful to progress. I’ve experienced how machine learning (as a form of AI) is an incredibly powerful research tool, but when it comes to creativity and idea development, it’s a step back. Insofar as it feasible, I’m going to create some distance between myself and the information economies of the oligarchs. Which means Amazon Prime and sourcing stuff from other places far more often, and steadily over the next couple years, ultimately weaning myself off of Gmail and over to a secure mail/calendar provider (probably Proton). I realize that going off grid isn’t anything possible or even anything I want to do, but I think I’m not the only one who didn’t think about the broad sweeping consequences of having google having full access to our emails, contacts, calendars, history of where and whenever our phone has been, etc. (I mean, I signed up for a gmail years before smartphones even existed.) I’m going to be more explicit in my teaching and in my lab about prioritizing the safety, well-being, and development of students, trainees, and peers. We’ve got to look out for one another, and let people around us that we’re intentional about this. I’m going to be working to tend to friendships. We have one another, and we all need people who we can trust and be vulnerable with. I’ve never been good at this, and am looking for ways to lower the activation energy to stay in touch with people who I care about. I think I’m going to be navigating academic spaces with an understanding that the duties of the professoriate have evolved to the point of unsustanability. We need to be clear that it’s absurd for our institutions expect us to simultaneously be rockstars, produce a ton of papers, mentor a ton of students, teach with all the high-effort best practices, serve on every committee, and also do all of the paperwork associated with running all of the huge grants they expect us to land. What are we supposed to be doing? I’m not sure any of us knows anymore. We are in this moment of disequilibrium in higher education in which we can play a role in redefining what it means to be a professor. I’m going to be a part of that conversation, and I hope all y’all will too. With the push for white supremacy making ground nationwide, I’ll be more explicit about my support for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and I’m going to be using those words. I think for a long time I've leaned away from the term “DEI” only because I think “diversity” and “inclusion” are lightweight goals compared to access, opportunity, and justice, but diversity, equity, and inclusion matter, and it’s something we need to keep acting on and being clear about. I also know that I’m working from a position of tenure in a public university in California, and recognize that other positions might involve other approaches to be most effective. I’m also going to be thinking more about how and the where I can do my best work and best be of service to others. Not only is the landscape changing quickly, but I’m a very different person than I was when I started out on this career path. What turns might I take? I’ve been able to think about new directions not only because I’ve had sabbatical, but I’ve also been on vacation from sabbatical for a couple weeks! Now I’m back to my sabbatical projects. The next few weeks are going to be rough especially for those of us based in the United States. They want us weary and exhausted, so keeping ourselves healthy and charged is foundational. So I think I might end up coming off here as more positive and excited about the world, because I’m working to genuinely feel that way, even as our governance fails and more people experience harm. I’m working to keep this newsletter as a bright spot in your inbox. I’d love to hear more about what you think about the best way to approach this moment of disequilibrium. You’re currently a free subscriber to Science For Everyone. Thanks for your support! If you wish to support this work more, then you could pay for a subscription.
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Autism Books That You Can Buy Without Amazon
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Dear Reader, To read this week's post, click here: https://teachingtenets.wordpress.com/2025/07/02/aphorism-24-take-care-of-your-teach...
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A slightly unconventional guide to your first time ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ...
