Following on from our inaugural event in 2020, we were delighted to welcome Professor Helle Neergaard, Aarhus University to our 2^nd Distinguished International Scholar in which Professor Neergaard spoke on ‘Educating for entrepreneurial action: an educator’s journey’ with Professor Felicity Kelliher, Waterford Institute of Technology.

Helle Neergaard is a world leading scholar in the field of Entrepreneurship. Prof Neergaard Professor of Entrepreneurship and Head of the ITIM section of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences. Her research passion is gender in entrepreneurship and how early experiences influence self-efficacy, risk-taking behaviour and the propensity to found and grow a business. Her research is spurred by her interest in what makes some individuals become entrepreneurs and some not. She is puzzled by how men and women differ in the way that they choose to carry out their entrepreneurial efforts and activities. She undertakes qualitative research because it gives her the possibility to explore and understand other people’s perspectives on the world, we all inhabit.

Her research publications have appeared in international entrepreneurship journals such as: Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice; International Small Business Journal; Journal of Enterprising Culture; International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship; International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research; Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development; Education & Training; Industry and Higher Education. She is also known for her two Handbooks on Qualitative Methods in Entrepreneurship.  In 2018 she received the prestigious Sten K. Johnson European Entrepreneurship Educator Award. She is on the editorial review board of ETP and IJGE and co-editor at IJEBR.