Professor Mason has made a significant contribution to the entrepreneurship discipline over his career. Professor Mason’s research is situated within the area of entrepreneurship having a particular expertise with regards to the area of entrepreneurship and regional development. His long-term research focus has focused on entrepreneurial finance, specifically business angel investing. Professor Mason has also undertaken research on home-based businesses, high growth firms and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Professor Mason has worked in academia for over 40 years until his retirement in 2023, most recently as Professor of Entrepreneurship in the University of Glasgow since 2012. Previously, Professor Mason held professorships in Economic Geography at the University of Southampton and in Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde Business School at the University of Strathclyde. However, Professor Mason continues to be research active in his capacity as an Emeritus Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow.
Professor Mason has held visiting positions at: University of Ottawa, Memorial University of Newfoundland (both Canada), Flinders University of South Australia, University of Adelaide, University of South Australia, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (Argentina), London Business, School, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax (Canada), University of Canterbury, University of Otago and University of Auckland (New Zealand). He was the founding editor of the journal “Venture Capital: an international journal of entrepreneurial finance” published by Taylor and Francis. Professor Mason was a panel member of Sub-Panel 17 Business and Management in REF 2021 and is a member of several learned societies. His research has been the subject of several awards including the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division Entrepreneurship Practice Award and the ESRC Impact in Business Award for 25 years of research on business angels. Most recently, Professor Mason was awarded Canada’s National Angel Capital Organisation’ Investment Summit LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD “for long standing dedication to fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem”. Professor Mason has been a prolific scholar since the late 1970s and has produced over academic 300 outputs including publication in the highest level journals such as “Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice” and the “Journal of Business Venturing”. His body of work has been cited over 25,000 times highlighting his massive contribution to the entrepreneurship discipline.
Over his career, Professor Mason has extensive global networks of colleagues and stakeholders spanning across both research and practitioner communities. The nominee is a prolific researcher and renowned expert in the entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial business, business angel and entrepreneurial eco systems fields both in the UK and globally. During their career, the nominee has regularly contributed to the ISBE conference and the wider research community. Over the years, Professor Mason has encouraged his peers and doctoral students to attend ISBE events and regularly supports symposia and other events. Professor Mason would be an excellent ambassador for ISBE in future years and a great individual to draw upon and mentor other academics within the ISBE society.
As noted previously, Professor Mason has long established international and national networks with a wide range of learned societies and bodies that would potentially be of value to ISBE. Professor Mason sits on 9 editorial boards of leading journals including the International Small Business Journal, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development and Small Business Economics.
