UK Society for Co-operative Studies
55th Annual Conference
Friday 1st – Saturday 2nd March 2024
Hosted by: Central Co-op, Lichfield, UK
Sustainability of the Co-operative Ecosystem:
the Role of Secondary Co-operatives and Federations
Call for presentations, papers, panels, and practical activities.
Submission deadline: 15th December 2023
Welcome to the UKSCS 2024 Annual Conference Call. We invite submissions of proposals for presentations, papers, panels, and practical activities that focus on the role of secondary co-operatives and federations as an important aspect of a sustainable co-operative ecosystem. Proposals can be oriented towards generating debates and engaging members, facilitating experiential learning activities, or reporting the findings of research studies.
We particularly welcome contributions by practitioners who wish to share developments within their co-operative enterprise and/or network on:
- the emergence of new thinking
- how new thinking has been applied to accounting, management, marketing or governance in co-operatives
- how new practices have impacted on producer, worker, and consumer co-operative members (and other stakeholders).
Janette Hurst, Sheffield Hallam University, Trustee UKSCS
Elisavet Mantzari, University of Birmingham, Trustee UKSCS
Nick Matthews, Trustee UKSCS
Mike Wistow, Chair UKSCS
Sustainability of the Co-operative Ecosystem:
the Role of Secondary Co-operatives and Federations
Call for presentations, papers, panels, and practical activities.
Principle 6 of the ICA Statement of Identity explains “Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures” (ICA, 2018)[1]. These range from informal groupings, to established networks, and incorporated federations. Secondary co-operatives and federations are an important aspect of a sustainable co-operative ecosystem helping to develop and support the co-operative movement. Co-operatives UK emphasise in their Co-operative and Mutual Economy 2023 report (Co-operatives UK, 2023a)[2] and their policy priorities (Co-operatives UK, 2023b)[3] that supporting secondary co-operative networks and other specialist intermediaries can contribute to accelerating “the proliferation of replicable co-operative solutions in broken systems like social care, energy, housing, data and culture”. The importance of secondary co-operatives, networks, or federations has been also demonstrated, for example, in studies exploring the role of meso-level institutions in worker co-operatives (Roelants, 2000)[4]; the prevalence of networks in European co-operative banks (Poli, 2019)[5]; the impact of federations in agricultural co-operatives (Moyano-Estrada et al., 2008)[6], and; the value of support structures in housing co-operatives (Ganapati, 2010)[7].
We invite contributions that focus on the role of secondary co-operatives, networks, or federations in re-building the co-operative ecosystem for a sustainable future. The UKSCS 2024 Annual Conference provides a forum for scholars from multiple disciplines and theoretical approaches, as well as for practitioners, to advance the ongoing conversation on inter-cooperation between co-operators and co-operatives, as well as on co-operative learning and knowledge sharing through media, archives, and publishing. While we call for presentations, papers, panels, and activities that advance our understanding on issues covered in this year’s conference theme, we encourage any other contributions relevant to all aspects of the co-operative movement and co-operative forms of structure as set out in the Society’s objectives (UKSCS, 2023)[8].
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