Session: Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

The Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (SE/SI) SIG has been meeting at SSWR since 2012 and has a diverse membership, with women and minorities making up 60-90% of participants over the past decade. In addition, this SIG has been an important space for social work doctoral students in SE/SI to connect with potential supervisors and mentors. This year, the SE/SI SIG proposes an exciting development: to intersect with an emerging group of scholars in this area, SWIN - The Social Work Innovation Network. SWIN has developed over the past two years into a group of US an international social work scholars and practitioners with expertise and interest in social entrepreneurship and social innovation (SE/SI). Founded by leading authors in SE/SI and social work, Dr. James Mandiberg, Dr. Monica Nandan, and Marijo Upshaw MSW/MBA, the group has been grown intentionally to include junior scholars and doctoral students in an effort to establish an impactful cohort. SWIN holds bi-monthly online meetings featuring presentations by leading voices in SE/SI research and practice. In addition, Dr. Marissa Kaloga leads a research sub-committee that is currently co-editing a special issue on SE/SI and social work for the HSO journal. By adding SWIN co-conveners to the SIG alongside the established facilitator, Dr. Stephen McMillin, it is hoped that these two communities of like-minded scholars can intersect. At the SIG, co-conveners will explore how the SE/SI SIG and SWIN might collaborate moving forward. This could include: publishing opportunities, international collaborations, information sharing, mentorship, teaching strategies, etc.