The seminar is arranged by the research group LOVIP (Leadership, Organization and Values in Practice), Centre for Diaconia and Professional Practice (SDP) and Centre for Valuebased Leadership and Innovation (SVLI) at VID Specialized University.

Part I of the seminar focuses on new and innovative ways of learning for social impact. We ask: Is there a different way of organizational learning for social impact?

Part II of the seminar pays attention to the role academia and universities can play for their ‘third mission’ of meeting societal challenges. We ask: What are the new teaching models and research approaches for social impact?

Researchers and practitioners are welcome to sign up for one or two parts of the seminar. Participation is free of charge.

Keynote speaker

Keynote speaker Dr. Warren Nilsson from the University of Cape Town and the University of Vermont has a passion for exploring the inner life of social purpose organizations. In the seminar, he will introduce Org School - a new approach to organizational learning for social innovation that represents a practice-centered alternative to traditional leadership development and change management approaches. He will share reflections from early Org School pilot work with organizations in North America and the Middle East.

Nilsson has worked with and learned from social purpose organizations on five continents. His current research focuses on the organizing power of love and its relationship to social transformation. He is the Director of Organizational Learning at the Institute for Collective Wellbeing and the co-founder of Organization Unbound, an international community of inquiry and experimentation exploring how organizations can align their internal practices with external social goals. His research is published in Academy of Management Review and in Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Program

09:30 Registration, coffee, tea and fruit

PART I The future of organizational learning for social impact

10:00 Welcome and Introduction

10:10 Talk by Warren Nilsson

Workshop: Learned perspectives and experiences from practice.

12:00 Lunch

PART II Rethinking the role of academia for social innovation: new teaching models and co-creating research approaches.

13:00 Lecture by Warren Nilsson
Presentation by Gottfried Greve, vice rector at The University of Bergen

Workshop: Where do we go from here?

15:00 End