To promote an awareness of social enterprise as a potential career option for researchers and to highlight how their skills relate to enterprise, Vitae has been working in collaboration with the University of the West of England to develop learning and development materials on social enterprise.
The new resources aim to inspire researchers to consider social enterprise as an outlet for their skills and attributes.
The project has generated case study materials, which includes video vignettes of successful social Entrepreneurs. These materials are available for free use by UK HEIs.
The Common Good: a three-hour development activity
This activity focuses on the identification of and possible solutions to societal and/or environmental problems in a framework that could feasibly be run as a social enterprise.
A manual with facilitator briefs, participant handouts and accompanying PowerPoint slides can be downloaded by UK higher education institutions.
Ketso: a two-hour case study in social enterprise
This case study uses a real life example of a social enterprise that was established as a spin-out venture from a UK university. The session focuses on the practical elements concerning the sustainability of social enterprises with a strong focus on creative problem solving.
A manual with facilitator briefs and participant handouts can be downloaded by UK higher education institutions.
Supporting videos
What is social enterprise?
Meet the social entrepreneurs
Running a successful social enterprise
Thoughts on social entrepreneurship
Ketso case study: the beginning
Ketso case study: ongoing issues
Ketso case study: using research skills
To order these videos on DVD please contact resources@vitae.ac.uk
Participant quotes
“This workshop demonstrated a different way of thinking about enterprise. It highlighted that there is more than one way to solve a problem and it has given me another option to think about”
“A good introduction to social enterprise and how it relates to the skills I have as a researcher. It has got me thinking about the transferability of my skills into a different context”
“I only had a vague idea of what social enterprise is all about, this inspired me to be more entrepreneurial in a way that is not about big profits for shareholders”