The Venice Foundation for Peace Research and EURICSE – European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises announced the launch of a Doctoral Thesis Award in memory of Professor Carlo Borzaga in December 2025.  Applications must submit their application by 30 June 2026.

The Award, under the patronage of the University of Trento, is promoted in collaboration with the Committee on Cooperative Research of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA CCR), the EMES International Research Network and CIRIEC International.

Objectives of the Award

The Doctoral Thesis Award in memory of Professor Carlo Borzaga aims at promoting and acknowledging research that explores the role of co-operatives and social economy organisations in fostering more inclusive, democratic, and supportive societies.

This initiative supports research that highlights the contribution of co-operatives and more broadly social economy organisations to promoting peace, social justice, and sustainable development, understood as fundamental, interconnected values of civic coexistence among people sharing similar objectives.

The Award of EUR 2,500 gross - acknowledges and showcases studies that propose new theoretical and practical perspectives, in which cooperatives – including informal cooperative practices – are interpreted as a tool for collective well-being and for building a culture of and for peace.

Critical and interdisciplinary analyses proposing new ways of conceptualising cooperatives as vehicles for peace and conflict resolution will be particularly appreciated.

Eligibility Requirements

Researchers are eligible to participate in the competition if they meet the following requirements:

  • They have obtained a doctoral degree from an Italian or foreign university;
  • They doctoral thesis is written in English
  • Their research examines, using scientific methods, the role of co-operatives and social economy organisations in promoting peace, democracy, equality and solidarity;
  • They defended their doctoral thesis between January 1st, 2023 and June 30th, 2026.

How to Apply

Interested candidates must submit their application by June 30th, 2026 at midnight CEST to the email address [email protected], attaching the following documentation in PDF format:

  • Abstract in English (min. 3,000 – max. 5,000 words), accompanied by the thesis table of contents and complete bibliography;
  • Full text of the doctoral thesis;
  • Doctoral degree certificate, or – if not yet available – a declaration confirming successful completion of the doctoral defence (issued by the awarding institution, the supervisor or the candidate);
  • Letter of motivation explaining how the thesis is consistent with the objectives of the Award. Candidates are strongly encouraged to specify how they intend to operationalise the findings of the doctoral thesis in real-world contexts;
  • Supervisor’s (or co-supervisor’s) support letter;
  • Curriculum vitae et studiorum of the candidate.

Failure to submit one or more of the required documents in full and by the stated deadline, may negatively affect the evaluation of the application or result in its exclusion.

In addition to the monetary prize of €2500, the awardee(s) will be invited to publish an extract from their thesis in the Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity (JEOD), indexed in Scopus and published by EURICSE.

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Professor Carlo Borzaga, who passed away after a serious disease in March 2024, was one of the pioneers and most influential scholars in exploring co-operatives, the Third sector, and the social economy.

As a Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Trento (Italy) and author of numerous books, essays, and academic articles, he served from 1997 to 2008 as President of the Istituto Studi e Sviluppo Aziende Nonprofit (ISSAN), which later evolved into the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (EURICSE). Professor Borzaga founded EURICSE in 2008 and chaired it until 2022. He was one of the founders of the EMES International Research Network and contributed to the founding of Iris Network, the Italian network of research institutes dealing with social enterprise, which he chaired for several years.