On the 13th and 14th of June 2022, the Public Procurement Global Revolution XI Conference was held at the University of Nottingham. Organised by Professor Annamaria La Chimia and Dr Peter Trepte, the conference was aimed at sharing and discussing up-to-date development and issues of public procurement in both practice and academia. Around 300 delegates and speakers joined the dynamic workshops of the conference. SAPIENS Network had a “Procurement and Sustainability” panel on the first day. The session started with a warm welcome speech by our external expert Professor Elisabetta Manunza (Utrecht University) and a brief introduction to the SAPIENS Network by Professor Martin Trybus (University of Birmingham). The panel consisted of three informative and exciting presentations from our lead researchers and early-stage researchers (ESR).  

During the first presentation, our ESR 12 Federica Muscaritoli presented the preliminary findings of her ongoing research with our lead researcher Associate Professor Marta Andhov (University of Copenhagen). She discussed the definition of Low Carbon Public Procurement and the legal hurdles this concept might encounter. The research will be published in the book, “Mandatory green and social requirements in EU public procurement law - Reflections on a paradigm change in the European Union”, co-edited by our network coordinator Professor Roberto Caranta (University of Turin).

The second presentation was given by our lead researcher Professor Olga Martin-Ortega (University of Greenwich) and our ESR 8 Laura Treviño Lozano. They discussed the multiple connections between sustainable public procurement and identifies the relationship between human rights and infrastructure. This ongoing research will be published in the forthcoming book in Edward Elgar publishing “Beyond Building Green: Sustainable Public Procurement of Infrastructure and Human Rights”.    

The last presentation was about empowering Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in public procurement presented by our lead researcher Professor Martin Trybus and our ESR 11 Xinyue Xue. They shared the different approaches to defining SMEs adopted by the European Union and the United States and reflected on SMEs-friendly and SMEs-favouring policies. Also, they discussed the contribution of SMEs towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in the context of public procurement.

The series of Global Revolution has been a major standing and prestigious conference in the field of public procurement. Through this panel, SAPIENS ESRs showcased their research during the last ten months since the launch of this project. It is important to receive feedback from external experts and acquire the skills to present academic work.

Prof. Martin Trybus, SAPIENS Director of Training and Lead Researcher