3rd and 4th September 2025
Bayes Business School, London , United Kingdom
Creating Change Together: Civil society working beyond sector and organisational boundaries
Location: Bayes Business School, City, University of London, London, UK
Call for Papers
These are challenging times. Few would argue that if we have any hope of tackling the ever more complex challenges facing society, we must all work together to create lasting, systemic change. Thinking and working together beyond organisational or sectoral boundaries is essential. But what does this mean in practice?
We are used to thinking and working in terms of sectors and organisations. Both suggest bounded spaces comprised of certain types of organisations and individuals. Whilst talk of collaboration, partnership, compacts and covenants abound, it is often with an emphasis on relationships between the voluntary sector and the state to the neglect of other actors such as private businesses, communities, and individual citizens. Thinking is often underpinned by notions of crossing or spanning boundaries between organisations or sectors with distinct forms, logics and values. Focusing on what is distinct about the sector, voluntary organisations and volunteering often involves the construction of, often artificial, boundaries to delineate what is counted and what is not.
However, increasing attention is being paid to how we might think – and work – beyond bounded sectors and organisations, through drawing on notions of networks, movements, systems, space and place. A less centralised, more dispersed, less structured, and less bounded approach may prise open new ways of working and organising. This may open new avenues for research and enquiry by exploring innovative connections between the traditional topics of study and broader fields of social activity.
This year’s Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research conference seeks to explore different ways of thinking and organising, acknowledging, whilst also looking beyond, borders and boundaries. This might include exploring alternative organisational forms, collaborations of different kinds between different sets of actors, the adoption of more movement-based approaches within and beyond voluntary organisations, or what systems change means in theory and in practice. Looking beyond sectoral and organisational boundaries raises questions about how to organise in such spaces and how resources are used and distributed. It encourages us to explore how to build infrastructure, capacity, and support to do this work, how to put people in the centre of design and delivery, and how to research and learn from more experimental approaches.
The Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference 2025 (VSVR ’25) invites participants to explore these issues associated with the conference theme, whilst also hearing about the latest research covering a wide range of topics relating to the voluntary sector and volunteering. Through plenary sessions, papers, panels, and workshops we challenge presenters to help us to think as broadly and creatively as possible about the potentials, limits, and connections between the voluntary sector and volunteering working together and with others to create change through collaborations, networks, movements, and systems.
VSVR ’25 is organised by the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN), in partnership with Voluntary Action Islington (VAI), and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). It is hosted by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School, City St George’s, University of London. It will provide a unique opportunity for academics, policy makers, and practitioners, from across the UK and further afield, to come together to share findings and discuss the implications of research for civil society, the voluntary sector, and volunteering
Aims and streams
The conference aims to:
• Contribute to evidence and theory-building in the field
• Develop emerging research ideas
• Inform and be informed by the work of practitioners
• Shape future policy
We welcome submissions for individual papers, panel sessions and workshops. We are particularly keen to receive proposals for the Conference Theme, but also welcome papers that address any issues relevant to volunteering and the voluntary sector, including those aligned to the following streams:
• The Conference Theme – Creating Change Together: Civil society working beyond sector and organisational boundaries
• Diversity, (in)equality and inclusion
• Current and recent crises and voluntary action
• Democracy and grassroots voluntary action
• Volunteering, participation and social action
• Advances in theory and methods
• Resources, including funding, fundraising, philanthropy, social enterprise, and social investment
• Organisational management and governance, including law and regulation
• Historical perspectives on civil society, the voluntary sector and volunteering
• Measuring civil society: outcomes, impact and social value
When submitting abstracts, authors will be asked which streams they feel their paper will best fit within.
You can submit your abstract here: https://www.vssn.org.uk/vssn-conference-abstract-submissions-2025/
We welcome contributions from those working in the voluntary sector and civil society, and research from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, social policy, politics, psychology, geography, economics, business studies, law, anthropology, philosophy and ethics and beyond!
Plenary sessions
Alongside the paper sessions and workshops, the programme will include plenary sessions, with an exciting line up of keynote presentations. These will include the opportunity for roundtable sessions where participants will have the opportunity to meet and share ideas with new and experienced researchers in their field, developing social and professional networks and agendas for future research and practice.
The deadline for abstract submission is 12th May 2025.
New/ Early Careers Researchers
The Conference is an ideal opportunity for new or early career researchers looking to discuss and present their research in a supportive setting. A special conference welcome event will run on Tuesday 2nd September for New Researchers to meet, network, and gain support from the VSSN community. New researchers can choose to present papers either on this day, or within the main conference. Our definition of ‘New Researcher’ is inclusive of PhD and master’s students, and those otherwise new to voluntary sector / volunteering research as academics, practitioners, and in-between! Attendance at the conference is subsidised for New Researchers through our concessionary rate. For more details about the New Researchers programme, please visit : https://www.vssn.org.uk/new-researchers/
| Key dates | |
| 12 May 2025 | Deadline for abstract submissions |
| 18 July 2025 | Early bird rate ends |
| 11 August 2025 | Deadline for full paper submissions |
| 22 August 2025 | Conference booking closes |
| 2 September 2025 | New Researchers’ Stream welcome event |
| 3-4 September 2025 | The Conference |
Best paper prizes
Campbell Adamson Memorial Prize
Presenters who submit a full paper by the 11 August deadline will automatically be considered for the Campbell Adamson Memorial Prize for best paper, which includes a £300 prize sponsored by NCVO.
Duncan Scott New Researchers’ Prize
New Researchers who submit a full paper by the 16 August deadline will automatically be considered for the Duncan Scott New Researchers’ Prize for best paper, which includes a £100 prize.
Voluntary Sector Review Best Article Prize
The conference will also see the third annual Voluntary Sector Review Best Article Prize awarded, with the authors of the winning article receiving a joint £300 prize from the publisher Policy Press and VSSN.
Want to find out more?
Booking for the conference will open shortly. In the meantime, you can visit our website: www.vssn.org.uk or email us for more information: VSVRConference@vssn.org.uk
