Inclusive Entrepreneurship Education and Training (IEET) Research Program

We are delighted to announce the launch of the

Inclusive Entrepreneurship Education and Training (IEET) Research Program

Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research (Canada), a team of leading researchers have teamed up to undertake a global study that will inform the design and development of entrepreneurship training and education. The research will advance new knowledge about how gender and other intersectional influences are evidenced in entrepreneurship education and training.

Lead researchers include Dr. Barbara Orser (PI) and Dr. Catherine Elliott (Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa), Dr. Candida Brush and Dr. Amanda Elam (Babson College, USA) and Dr Anita Shanker (Johns Hopkins, USA). Entrepreneurship researcher Doreen Ashton Wagner will provide administrative support. uOttawa Research Software Development Team member Astha Tiwari will provide technical support.

Learn more about the research [here].?

Why is this research important?

The goal of the research is to construct course and program content that reflect diverse cultures, gender inclusion, and intersectional identities that apply in multiple settings.The relevance of the research is evidenced in several ways.

The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is well-documented. However, knowledge about how gender and other intersectional influences are constructed within entrepreneurship education and training programs is limited. At the course level, the research will inform content and instructional practices. The findings will enable small business support intermediaries to assess the degree to which program design, development, delivery and evaluation are inclusive.

The pandemic threatens to rollback gains by women, including women-identified entrepreneurs (World Bank, 2020). The rapid transition to online delivery and digital content present opportunities to create more inclusive curricula. The transition also threatens to amplify gender gaps, including through the use of biased, off-the-shelf educational content.

Recognizing these challenges, the United Nations (2020, p. 5) calls for efforts to:

“…build more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies. …This includes gender-responsive economic and social policies and placing women’s economic lives at the heart of the pandemic response and recovery plans.”

To support economic recovery, the McKinsey Global Institute (2020) cites a need to promote gender diversity, including the elimination of biases in recruitment and selection processes for incubators and accelerators, and maintaining a focus on women-owned enterprises within stimulus programs. The IEET research program will help to better equip and empower women to participate in pandemic recovery.

Visit the IEET website [here] to access a toolkit of resources that support inclusive entrepreneurship education and training.

For more information about this exciting research contact Dr. Barbara Orser @ [email protected].