Event Summary

On 20-21 April 2023, the bi-annual project meeting of the SAPIENS Network was held in Budapest, Hungary, hosted by the Corvinus University of Budapest, one of the beneficiaries of the network. The event aimed to monitor the research progress of the Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), provide feedback, and improve their communication and presentation skills. The event was attended by 30 participants, including 15 ESRs, SAPIENS lead researchers, and external experts.

Day 1 – Beginning

The meeting began with a welcome note from Prof. Gyongyi Vorosmarty (Corvinus University of Budapest), followed by opening remarks and updates from Prof. Roberto Caranta (University of Turin) and Miriam Abdullahi (the SAPIENS project Manager) on the progress of the project, and further expectations from the members. 

Day 1 – Lecture by Prof. Seuring

Following this, Prof. Stefan Seuring (SAPIENS external expert, University of Kassel) delivered a lecture titled “Publishing high-quality papers in academic journals” to help our ESRs in their academic journey. The lecture was divided into three parts: “the writing process,” “the review process,” and “conducting a review” to provide the participants with a holistic overview of the writer’s and review’s approach to publishing. 

While describing the writing process, he focused on approaching academic writing as a “storytelling” attempt where effective communication of not only the research outputs but each section of the paper is essential; the writer needs to design their work with a focus on the reader, attempting to convey the research gap and their contribution clearly and concisely. As an author of several research articles, the professor shared his personal tips on writing an article with the do’s and don’ts. His insights into the review process followed this. He shared about the different types of reviews and walked the participants through an article’s review journey from submission to publication. He provided critical insights on selecting the research themes (how to identify the research gap) and how to select the relevant journal to publish. Prof. Seuring provided ample examples of sample articles to show good and bad practices. Finally, as an editor of a journal, he also spilled some beans on how a review is conducted. This included insights on the typical timeline of the review process and the outline of a review report followed by supporting literature to understand this process better. Prof. Seuring also emphasized that the ESRs should support their supervisors in conducting reviews to get some practical insights into the process and understand the reviewer’s mindset; this exercise could help them write better-quality articles. The lecture concluded with a question-answer session where our enthusiastic ESRs satiated their queries on conducting and publishing high-quality research.

Day 1 – Project Meeting

The second half of the first day consisted of three simultaneous project meetings, during which the ESRs presented their Ph.D. research progress. Each ESR was given ten minutes to present their work, followed by feedback from a team of lead researchers. The ESRs were grouped into 3 sessions based on common themes. The first theme, “Instruments,” grouped the researchers working on instruments to advance SPP and consisted of ESR1: SAP and third-generation free trade agreements (top-down approach); ESR2: Developing SAP solutions at the global level; ESR5: Developing SAP through collaboration; ESR6: Measuring LCC/The measurement of sustainability impact in contracts and ESR7: Enforcing sustainability and social requirements in contract performance. This session was led by Prof. Stevan Van Garsse, while Profs. Dacian Dragos, Gyongyi Vorosmarty and Henok Asmelash provided their input. The second session was themed “Sustainability Objectives”. It included research projects working directly with SDGs and was supervised by Profs. Bogdana Neamtu, Rodrigo Lozano, Martin Trybus and Andrea Appolloni. This included research projects of ESR 3: SAP and circular economy; ESR 8: Protecting human rights and dignity through SAP; ESR9: Empowering minorities and disadvantaged groups through supply chains; ESR10: Gender Smart Procurement Systems and ESR12: SAP tools to fight climate change. The last group was themed “Industries” categorizing procurement research themes which target particular industries, this included projects of ESR4: Industry 4.0 for Sustainable Procurement, ESR11: Empowering SME’s Startups and social enterprises; ESR13: Fostering SAP in Construction; ESR14: SAP tools for circular textiles; and ESR15: Bringing sustainability to the collective table. This session was led by Prof. Roberto Caranta, while Profs. Davide Vannoni, Stevan Seuring and Olga Martin-Ortega provided feedback to the ESRs. 

Day 2 – Team Building

On the second day of the event, Dr. Alexandra Koves (Corvinus University of Budapest) conducted a teambuilding activity with the participants on “Sustainability and Degrowth” using participatory backcasting research design. ‘Our brave new past,’ an interactive drama session, was conducted by dividing the participants into two groups and prompting them to think about people and societies through the end of consumer society, during the green revolution, and in the times of consolidation. This exercise compelled the participants to dwell beyond their personal motivations and think of sustainability as a greater good with community-transforming objectives and benefits. Concluding the project meeting, this exercise reinforced the overall sustainability objectives of the SAPIENS network. 

What’s Next?

The next Advanced Training Course is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 6-8 September 2023. For more insights from the meeting and Sustainable Public Procurement, follow the SAPIENS network on LinkedIn and Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter.