Skip to main content
What types of page to search?

Popular pages: Undergraduate Postgraduate PhD Accommodation Research International students

Alternatively use our A-Z index.

The Liverpool Organisation Theory Workshop

This year, the Management School will be hosting the inaugural Liverpool Organisation Theory Workshop (LOTW) from Tuesday 8 - Thursday 10 September 2026, with the theme: 'Organisation Theory for and in Unsettled Times'.

Date: Tuesday 8 - Thursday 10 September 2026

Place: The University of Liverpool

Cost: Free to attend

Workshop themes:

The upcoming workshop aims to showcase emerging research and facilitate discussions and debates on the present and future of organisation theory.

Acknowledgement of the complexity of contemporary organisational environments marked by wicked crises, polarisation, fragmentation, and disorder, co-emerging with radically new developments in emerging technology, including artificial intelligence (Phillips, 2026), has stimulated calls for re-evaluations and reorientations of the role and direction of organisation theory and scholarship (see Meyer, 2025; Zilber & Quattrone, 2025).

These developments radically challenge conceptions of the nature and role of theory (e.g. facts, inference, language); the viability of epistemic virtues (e.g. abstraction, rigour, reflexivity); the epistemic apparatus involved in theory production (e.g. methods, causality, mechanisms, boundaries); as well as the orientation of the scientific community (e.g. theorist versus activist).

The following topics outline the research which will be explored and debated during the workshop:

  • Future of dominant organisation theories
  • Balancing existing and novel AI-related theories
  • Theorising new organisational phenomena and technologies
  • Capturing stability, fluidity, and marginalised phenomena
  • Future of interdisciplinary organisation research
  • Rethinking modes of theorising in uncertainty
  • Emerging technologies in organisation theory
  • Alternative pathways for research dissemination and impact
  • Impact, outreach, and ethics in organisation theory.

Who should attend:

The event organisers particularly welcome participants in the early stages of their career (PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and assistant professors), in addition to organisation theory scholars who would like to deepen their engagement with organisation theory and contribute to intellectual exchange in the field. 

All research that addresses and seeks to contribute to forward-looking organisation theory, broadly construed, to encompass a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches, is particularly welcomed.

Programme: 

The workshop will be held over two and a half days from 8-10 September 2026.

The programme will include keynotes, panel discussions, sub-plenaries and daily research development roundtables involving a variety of local and external faculty members.

In research roundtables, workshop participants receive in-depth and individualised feedback on their manuscripts or research projects from workshop faculty and peers.

Led by senior editors from several management journals (AMLE, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Organization Theory), there will also be discussions on the current publishing landscape in light of the workshop theme.

Participating faculty members:

In attendance at the upcoming workshop will be:

With support from Management School faculty members, including Professor Charlotte Croft, Professor Damian O’Doherty, and Professor Dennis Jancsary from the Work, Organisation and Management Group, plus Professor Joep Cornelissen and Professor Mike Zundel from the Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship Group.

Application process:

Applications are now open until Monday 15 June.

To submit your application, please fill out the application form and submit a maximum 500-word abstract describing your research paper (Times New Roman, double-spaced, 12pt).

Organisers will accept:

  1. Full paper submissions
  2. Emerging ideas papers—particularly from PhD students in the early stages (research design, data collection) of their dissertation research.

Note that in both cases, applications should provide a 500-word abstract only. However, please also indicate which submission you are planning in the application form.

Full paper submissions (max. 10,000 words) are due two weeks before the workshop date, on 26 August. Participants sharing emerging ideas are expected to share an extended abstract (max. 4,000 words) by the same deadline.

Key dates:

  • Monday 15 June: Application deadline
  • Wednesday 26 August: Workshop full paper and emerging paper deadline
  • Tuesday 8 - Thursday 10 September: Workshop.

There is a limited number of travel scholarships available for participants. Please indicate you would like to be considered when applying.

Getting to Liverpool

The Liverpool City Region is served by two international airports - Liverpool and Manchester. For UK travellers, rail is a great way to travel, and Liverpool is effortlessly accessible by car and various coach networks.

Novotel Paddington

Delegates attending the workshop can access preferential accommodation rates at the Novotel Liverpool Paddington Village between 7–10 September 2026.

A limited allocation of Standard King rooms has been secured at £97 Bed & Breakfast for single occupancy, per night, inclusive of VAT. Please note that an additional Liverpool Accommodation BID Charge of £2.40 per room, per night applies.

To make a booking using the dedicated workshop allocation, delegates should contact the hotel Reservations Team directly on 0151 245 6694 / 6697 (Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm) or email quoting booking code 1281003.

Please note that delegates are responsible for arranging and settling their own accommodation costs directly with the hotel. Rooms are subject to availability and the allocation will be released 30 days prior to arrival.