2026 Edition - Ghent (Belgium)
lsm | Louvain-la-Neuve, Mons, Charleroi
The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Ghent University and Vlerick Business School will organize the 2026 Edition of the Business and Society Research Seminar at Vlerick Business School, campus Ghent (Belgium) on June 23-24, 2026. For more information about this event visit its website.
Target audience
This event is designed for PhD students and emerging scholars in various research fields related to Business and Society. While the specific theme of interest for this year is “Business, Peace and Sustainability: Navigating Systemic Challenges”, all works addressing Business and Society questions and challenges can be submitted to the Research Seminar.
Theme of the 2026 edition: "Responsibility under Pressure: Sustainability & Inclusion in times of polarization and backlash"
We are living in an era of intersecting crises (ecological, social, political, and economic) that increasingly reinforce one another. Societies face accelerating climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, geopolitical tension, social inequalities, polarization, and rapid technological disruption. These crises reshape the expectations placed on organizations and intensify debates about their broader societal responsibilities.
In this turbulent context, organizational commitments to sustainability, inclusion, and societal impact come under pressure. What was long viewed as a moral and collective imperative is increasingly reframed in instrumental or strategic terms. As public scepticism rises and polarization deepens, efforts related to sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) risk being deprioritized, diluted, or contested. This creates a pressing paradox: the need for responsible and inclusive organizational action has never been greater, yet its moral legitimacy appears increasingly fragile.
Call to contributions:
We welcome contributions from various organization-related research fields (e.g., business ethics and philosophy, management and organization studies, strategy, marketing, accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, and sociology) and research methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed, and conceptual).
Formats and deadlines:
There are two possible formats for the conference: working papers and research idea papers.
Working paper including introduction, theory/theoretical framework, research method and (preliminary) findings/conclusions: max. 30 pages (including references), double-spaced, Times New Roman 12.
Research idea paper: submit a 2,000 to maximum 4,000-word paper (including references) to present your research idea.
Submission Deadline: February 9, 2026. Please submit your contribution using the corresponding section on this website: See section “Submission” in the Main Menu. Submissions will undergo a double-blind review process. Notification of acceptance will be sent in early April 2026.
Submissions exceeding the maximum number of pages (working paper) or words (research idea) will not be accepted.
Registration (free but compulsory): Shortly after acceptance notifications in April 2026, authors can register for the conference on this website. Registration closes on June 5, 2026.