Professor Robert Blackburn, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Liverpool Management School and Director of the Brett Centre for Entrepreneurship
Professor Robert Blackburn is a highly distinguished entrepreneurship Professor and is currently a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Liverpool Management School and Director of the Brett Centre for Entrepreneurship. Throughout his career, Professor Blackburn has been a keen supporter of ISBE and regularly attended the annual conference. His research interests include examining the behaviour of small firms, the people involved (self-employed, entrepreneurs, business owners), their motivations and ambitions, strategies and interactions with their environments. He has a strong track record of securing external research funding from a range of sponsors, including national and international, public and private organisations. He has published work with people across the world, including practitioners, policy-makers, consultants, and researchers at various career stages; from world-leading authorities through to early career researchers. He has published studies in all the leading entrepreneurship journals including Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice and Journal of Business Venturing. In his career to date, he has achieved over 10K in career google scholar citations with a h index of 42 and an I index of 101. This is clear evidence of a scholar who has made a significant and ongoing global impact. Moreover, Professor Blackburn achievements have been recognised by several significant awards including:
- Fellowship (Chartered Association of Business Schools, 2022)
- Cooper Medal for Outstanding Contribution & Leadership (British Academy of Management, 2022)
- European ENSR Fellow (European Network for Social and Economic Research, 2020)
- ECSB Fellow (European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 2020)
- Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion (HM Government, The Queen’s Award Office, 2011).
Professor Blackburn has an extensive network of colleagues and stakeholders across research and practitioner communities. The nominee is an active researcher in the Entrepreneurship discipline both in the UK and globally. Professor Blackburn is recognised as an expert in entrepreneurship particularly with regard to the behaviour of small firms. The nominee regularly contributes research to the ISBE conference, encourages his doctoral students to attend and regularly supports symposia and other events. Professor Blackburn would be an excellent ambassador for ISBE in future years and a great individual to draw upon and mentor other academics within ISBE.
Professor Blackburn is a globally renowned Entrepreneurship academic with global connections within the academic world. Professor Blackburn makes several notable contributions to the entrepreneurship academic community. For example, he serves as tje Treasurer of the Society of the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS). He has also served on the RAE (2008) and the REF (2014) Business and Management sub-panels and was Chair for UoA17, Business and Management and membership of Main panel C for REF 2021. He is currently the Editor-in-chief of the International Small Business Journal (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/isb) and serves on the editorial board of several journals in the field of entrepreneurship. He is also the Series Editor of the Routledge Studies in Entrepreneurship and Small Business books.
