School joins Social Enterprise UK

Cardiff Business School has joined the leading global authority on business with a social or environmental mission to further enhance its research and work placement opportunities for staff and students.

Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) membership complements the School’s ambitious public value strategy which outlines a commitment to providing social and economic development, and the work of the Responsible Innovation Network targeting societal challenges and responding to them through community partnerships.

A different form of enterprise

Professor Martin Kitchener, Dean of Cardiff Business School, said: “We are delighted to become members of an organisation such as SEUK, which foregrounds its social responsibility through support for the social enterprise sector.

“This is something we have also committed to through our unique public value strategy...”

Membership is also set to generate live business research opportunities within the social enterprise sector for the School’s staff and postgraduate students.

Dr Anthony Samuel, Cardiff Business School, said: “My research into the challenges social enterprises face has benefited from our link with SEUK...”

“Access to the SEUK network is therefore an incredibly rich resource for the School’s cutting edge research. And of course, the synergies between our two organisations mean that SEUK and their members can draw on our research findings to aid their lobbying and profile raising on behalf of the sector.”

Positive social impact

With over 80,000 social enterprises nationwide, Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) represents organisations of all shapes and sizes to promote, lobby and give social enterprises more visibility, traction and kudos.

Their latest work also recognises quarters, towns, cities and zones where social enterprise activity is thriving. Discussions are also underway for Cardiff to join this network of Social Enterprise Places.

Stuart Emmerson, Regional Director at SEUK and the Social Enterprise Places Programme Lead, said: “We are really excited by Cardiff Business School’s leadership on the public value agenda. Students are increasingly interested in great careers coupled with positive social impact. And the school is demonstrating that universities can play a huge role in shaping this positive mindset through teaching, research and their own supply chains...”

In anticipation of things to come, Stuart spoke at a recent School event where the work of SEUK fed into a discussion on shaping and understanding public value.