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DEADLINE EXTENDED TO DEC, 6 AT 11:59PM (ET)

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 Diana International Research Conference will take place in Auckland, New Zealand from July 1-4, 2025, with the theme:

Entrepreneurship at the Edge: Extending the Boundaries of Gender and Entrepreneurship

Women’s entrepreneurship is limitless and should know no boundaries. It is estimated that women enter entrepreneurship at 80% the rate of men, yet women who run and own established businesses is significantly lower at 68% (2022/23 GEM Women’s Report). Whilst the boundaries enabling start-up may have shifted to facilitate greater parity for women entrepreneurs, there still remains limits within entrepreneurial ecosystems on their capacity to survive, thrive and experience full inclusiveness.

Second, our pre-occupation with researching gender and entrepreneurship, despite recent attention afforded to intersectionality (Marlow & Martinez Dy, 2018) has remained somewhat mainstream, Westernized and ‘safe’. Understanding how gender and entrepreneurship is enacted on peripheries, within diverse communities and rich cultures and by people (women, transgender, non-binary) who do not fit traditional stereotypes can offer much promise for developing this field.

With this Call, we seek contributions that extend research to explore entrepreneurship at the edge, encouraging us to broaden the entrepreneurial landscape in our examination of how gender influences entrepreneurial access, survival and growth. The 2025 Conference seeks conceptual and empirical papers that consider under-explored contexts, populations and approaches that embrace the use of leading edge  methodologies that pushes the boundaries of what we already know, or  apply cutting-edge theories to explore research questions.

More specifically, invited topics may include but are not restricted to:

● Women’s entrepreneurship in and across contexts: global, multi-cultural, geographic, community, family, industrial, sectoral, cultural and institutional

● Women-led businesses: characteristics (e.g. size, technology, innovation, form, growth trajectory)

● Women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial processes: organizing, launching, developing, financing, managing, growing and exiting

● Intersections of individual and social differences for women entrepreneurs: skills, competencies, race, class, ethnicity, socio-cultural, experiences, education

● Indigenous women entrepreneurs 

● Research informed teaching in gender and entrepreneurship

● Pedagogical innovations in teaching women entrepreneurs and women’s entrepreneurship

● Women entrepreneurship policies: Requirements and lessons for successful policy transfer.

We encourage papers that explore new research ideas, adopt novel methodological approaches and contribute to theory development to help advance the field and pave the way for an exciting future research agenda for the Diana community.


Co-hosted by the Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women (University of Auckland Business School), the 2025 Diana Conference will provide scholars with an exciting new conference experience. Delegates will have opportunities to participate in a range of innovative sessions comprising plenaries, facilitated critical synopsis, roundtable and themed panel discussions. There will also be opportunities for scholars to debate early-stage - novel but potentially ground-breaking research ideas - with the international Diana community.

Conference Chairs

● Candida Brush, Babson College, US

● Amanda Elam, Babson College, US

● Diana Hechavarria, Babson College, US

● Christine Woods, University of Auckland, New Zealand

● Janine Swail, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Anne de Bruin, University of Auckland, New Zealand

KEY DATES

Abstract Submission Deadline
December 1, 2024
*EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 6

Acceptance Notification
March 10, 2025

Optional "Best Paper Award" Entry: Full Paper Deadline
April 30, 2025

Conference & Impact Day:
July 1-4, 2025

  • July 1: Doctoral Colloquium & Evening Reception
  • July 2-3: Research Conference
  • July 4: Impact Day

 

ABSTRACT GUIDELINES

  • A two-page, maximum 900-word abstract, to include: Principal Topic, Method, and Results. References do not count toward the 900 word limit. Abstracts will be double-blind reviewed. 
  • Word Doc/x (Please do not submit a PDF)
  • Authors will be notified via email by March 10, 2025 regarding reviewer decisions on their abstract.
  • The full and final paper for those who wish to be considered for a Best Paper Award will be due April 30, 2025. 
  • Authors are limited to authoring/co-authoring no more than two submissions. *This has a domino effect on our program schedule so please be mindful of this request.*
  • Please refrain from using all caps in your title
    Yes: Abstract Title
    No: ABSTRACT TITLE

*All presentations for the conference will be in person.

For questions regarding paper submissions, please contact us at dirc@babson.edu.

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