Doctoral education in the service of society: Expanding horizons

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Doctoral education in the service of society:...

Doctoral education in the service of society: Expanding horizons

Target Audience

The EDAMBA Annual Meeting 2025 is aimed at Directors, Deans of Doctoral Schools, Heads of Doctoral Programs, and Higher Education Experts. These participants are key decision-makers responsible for shaping doctoral education, ensuring its quality, relevance, and societal impact. They bring strategic leadership, curriculum expertise, and policy insights essential for advancing doctoral training to meet global challenges.

About EDAMBA

EDAMBA is the European Doctoral Programmes Association in Management and Business Administration. Association promotes and facilitates cooperation among Doctoral Programmes in Management and Business Administration. EDAMBA's members are Business Schools, Universities and Schools of Management with PhD programmes. Established in 1991. EDAMBA mission is to develop common ideas, values, evaluation criteria, standards, and practices to assess and enhance the quality of doctoral education, through the exchange of experiences and cooperation in a global network. EDAMBA's purpose is to:

• Provide a network to exchange information • Promote research cooperation • Help to increase the quality of PhD programmes • Create an environment of excellence with a European perspective • Pursue diversity

Organisational information

The EDAMBA Annual Meeting and General Assembly 2025 will take place from 31 August to 2 September 2025 at the Leon Kozminski Auditorium, Kozminski University, located at 59 Jagiellońska Street in Warsaw, Poland.

The event is coorganized by Polish Doctoral Schools, who are the members of EDAMBA including: Warsaw School of Economics, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business and Kozminski University,

The conference will be held on-site and conducted in English.

Conference fee:

Conference fee: Early bird registration until July 15 – €190 Registration after July 15 – €235

Registration and payment via register form.

For an invoice write all details in register form!

Program

✨ Sunday, 31 August 2025

13:00–18:00 |Executive Meeting for Committee members (Professor’s Room at KU)
18:00–19:15 | Welcome Reception for all participants (PVM Konesera Square 1, 03-736 Warsaw)

✨ Monday, 1 September 2025

09:30–10:00 | Registration (Leon Kozminski Atrium C)
10:00–10:30 | Welcome Address

Prof. Grzegorz Mazurek – Rector of Kozminski University Prof. Dimitris Assimakopoulos – EDAMBA President Prof. Paweł Wyrozębski - Dean of Warsaw School of Economics Doctoral School Prof. Tomasz Olejniczak - Director of Kozminski University Doctoral School

10:30–11:30 | Keynote 1: Prof. Steve Fuller (University of Warwick) Reforming the Governance of Science in the Twenty-First Century: A Struggle between Future Prospects and Lost Causes
11:30–12:00| Coffee Break
12:00–13:00 | Keynote 2: Prof. Ulrich Hommel (EBS Business School) Update of the EDAMBA DBA Project
13:00–14:00 | Lunch
14:00 –15:15 | Thesis competition: presentations from winners
15:15–15:30 | Coffee Break
15:30–18:00 | EDAMBA General Assembly
18:30 onward | Gala Dinner (Hotel Sante, Jagiellonska 55A, 03-301 Warsaw )

✨ Tuesday, 2 September 2025

Kozminski University, Leon Kozminski Auditorium,

09:00–10:00 | Keynote 3: Prof. Ilona Świątek-Barylska (University of Lodz) The Doctoral School as a Space for Building Relationships: From Research Solitude to a Community of Responsibility
10:00–10:30 | Coffee Break
10:30–11:30 | Panel discussion Doctoral education: A value added for management & business (deans and directors of doctoral schools: Warsaw School of Economics, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, Kozminski University)
11:30–12:00 | Closing remarks: Prof. Dimitris Assimakopoulos - EDAMBA President
12:00 | Lunch

Speakers:

Prof. Steve Fuller

Steve Fuller is Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, UK. Originally trained in history, philosophy and sociology of science, Fuller is best known for his foundational work in the field of ‘social epistemology’, which is the name of a quarterly journal he founded in 1987 as well as the first of his nearly thirty books. His most recent research has focused on the future sustainability of ‘humanity’ as a concept in light of ‘post-‘ and ‘trans-‘ human challenges, as well as the future of the university as a mainstay of society’s intellectual life. His latest books are Back to the University’s Future: The Second Coming of Humboldt (Springer 2023), To Judge and To Justify: Profiles of the Academic Vocation (Springer 2024), and Media and the Power of Knowledge (Bloomsbury 2025). His next book is Reforming the Governance of Science (Springer 2025), which is a quarter-century revisit of The Governance of Science (Open University Press 2000).

Prof. Ilona Świątek-Barylska

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Management, University of Łódź. Head of the Research Methodology Department. Director of the Doctoral School of Social Sciences, University of Łódź.

Teaches classes in Polish and English on the following topics: organisational behaviour, human resource management, management in a multicultural environment, cultural differences, value-based management.

Visiting lecturer at universities in various countries: (Cyprus, the Netherlands, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey).

Author, co-author, scientific editor of 5 books and over 50 scientific articles.

Experienced management consultant (for several years president of an international personnel consulting company).

Since 2019, she has been actively involved in the creation and management of the Doctoral School. Initiator of the National Agreement of Doctoral Schools in Poland.

Prof. Ulrich Hommel

Ulrich Hommel is Full Professor of Finance in the Department of Finance & Accounting at EBS Business School. He heads the Chair of Corporate Finance & Higher Education Finance and is the Director of the Strategic Finance Institute. Ulrich Hommel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has completed his habilitation in Business Administration at the WHU, Germany.

EDAMBA thesis competition

The EDAMBA Thesis Competition is an annual initiative that celebrates outstanding doctoral research in the fields of business, management, and related disciplines. Open to graduates from EDAMBA member institutions, the competition recognizes dissertations that demonstrate academic excellence, originality, and potential for significant societal impact.

Each year, candidates submit their doctoral theses for evaluation by an expert committee composed of distinguished scholars and academic leaders. The selection process emphasizes the quality of research, methodological rigor, contribution to knowledge, and relevance to contemporary global and societal challenges.

Winners of the competition are invited to present their research during the EDAMBA Annual Meeting, offering them a prestigious platform to showcase their work to an international audience of doctoral program directors, deans, and higher education experts. Their presentations contribute to the broader conference theme and stimulate discussion on how innovative doctoral research can drive societal progress.

The EDAMBA Thesis Competition highlights the critical role of young researchers in expanding the horizons of knowledge and advancing the impact of doctoral education worldwide.

Prizes:

First Prize (Hans Siggaard Jensen Memorial Prize): €2,500
Second Prize: €1,500
Third Prize: €750

Key Dates:

Opening of submissions: 27 January 2025
Submission deadline: 28 February 2025
Announcement of results: June 2025
Presentation of winners: 1 September 2025 (Kozminski University)
Publication of the best theses: EDAMBA Online Journal, January 2026

All winners will receive official certificates and have the opportunity to present their work to an international audience of academic leaders and doctoral education experts during the Annual Meeting.

The EDAMBA Thesis Competition 2025 highlights the important role of doctoral research in addressing contemporary societal needs and advancing the field of management education.