Call for abstracts

Submission deadline: 28 November 2025

The conference provides a space for paradox researchers, educators and practitioners from diverse disciplines and domains to come together to detangle, discuss and debate the complexities of individual, organisational and social life, using paradox lens, theory and ideas.

Taking place online, the conference seeks to be as inclusive as possible, including across timezones. There will be three days scheduled around different geographical regions of Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), the Americas, and East Asia/Oceania.

The conference programme will be available on this webpage from January 2026, following the processing of submissions.

To complement the online gathering, and following the tradition of previous PREP conferences, several geographical locations are organising meetings in person at a number of physical hubs. Details of the hubs’ meetings will also be published on this webpage and circulated in due course.

The conference programme will include paper presentations, both full and research-in-progress. Panel discussions, keynotes and a workshop are also planned. Each of our traditional tracks of research, education and practice will have a selection of activities accessible to the different geographical regions and their timezones.

Online

The entire conference will be streamed live via Microsoft Teams and is free. You can present and attend from anywhere with a stable internet connection.

We welcome submissions of abstracts (1,000 words, excluding references) covering any of the following:

• Research: we invite theoretical as well as empirical papers. All disciplinary influences and all methodological approaches are welcome, as long as they have a clear paradox connection.
• Education: we invite you to share work focused on teaching students about paradox or using paradox in the approach to teaching, learning and education, from design to delivery, and at all levels of tertiary education – from undergraduate to executive education, industry-oriented programmes. Submissions can focus on (paradox) pedagogy, teaching interventions, innovations, teaching tools and techniques, teaching cases, or good practices.
  
• Practice: we invite you to share insights from paradox practice, where researchers, consultants, managers, and professionals use paradox ideas as a focus or method of development in organisations. Specifically, we are looking for exemplary impact cases of paradox research on practice (e.g., case studies), outstanding examples of research translations for practice (e.g., practical implication discussions, HBR articles, TED talks, Academy of Management Insights), and innovative research-practice collaborations such as those related to action research (e.g., research articles with collaborative methods).

1. An author can submit a total of up to 2 abstracts, across all three tracks.
2. Submissions should be in PDF format.
3. A cover page should be added to the submission, showing the following: Title, Author name(s), and affiliation(s), target conference track (research, education, or practice).
4. Please use the following naming convention for your PDF:
   • first author full name - track.pdf (e.g., James Scott - Research.pdf)
   • if you submit 2 papers in the same track, please add a number 1 or 2 in the pdf file name (e.g., James Scott - Research 1.pdf, James Scott - Research 2.pdf)
5. To submit, follow the submission link on this conference website, which will be open from 1 October 2025.

When submitting, you will be asked to answer the following questions about your work:

• What are all author credentials, including contact details of first author?
• What is your work about (focus)?
• Why is the work needed (problematisation/gap)?
• How is the work (to be) conducted (methodology)?
• What is the (planned) contribution and impact of the work?
• How would you classify the work:
  • Early Stage: Exploring ideas
  • Evidence Stage: Obtaining evidence/data
  • Theorising Stage: Analysis
  • Completed Stage: Written up
    
• What five keywords best describe your submission?
  
• What are you hoping to get out of your participation in PREP?

We look forward to your submissions.

Conference Chairs

Name	Institution
Siarhei Manzhynski	Umeå School of Business, Economics & Statistics, Umeå University
Rikke Nielsen	Department of Communication & Psychology, Aalborg University (Copenhagen campus)
Gamila Shoib	University of Bath School of Management

Research track chairs

Name	Institution
Harald Tuckermann	Center for Healthcare, St. Gallen University
Uffe Willemoes-Wissing	Henley Business School

Education track chairs

Name	Institution
Marc Krautzberger	University of Edinburgh Business School
Safoora Wajahat	Mcquarie University

Practice track chairs

Name	Institution
Jennifer Sparr	University of Zurich
Chinue Uecker	Jack Welch Management Institute, Strayer University
Ferran Torres Nadal	Rotterdam School of Management

Mentoring programme

Name	Institution
Mary Skordia	The American College of Greece

Awards

Name	Institution
Xin Li	Newcastle Business School