GCU Professor offered Fellowship at Princeton

A Professor from GCU has been offered a prestigious Fellowship from a research institute based at Princeton University.

Professor Michael Roy, who holds a joint appointment at the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health and Glasgow School for Business and Society, will spend a semester at The Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI), in New Jersey, from January 2020.

CTI’s model, based on the world-famous Institute for Advanced Study, brings together academics from around the world to provoke dialogue between the humanities and social sciences on issues of global concern.

During his time in the US, Professor Roy plans to build upon his previous work, and that of colleagues, on the role that social enterprises play in tackling poverty and inequality.

Professor Roy will work on his research project entitled Economic Organising for the Common Good? Karl Polanyi, Catholic Social Thought and the Grand Challenge of Economic Inequality, at CTI.

He said: "I am absolutely delighted to have been awarded this Fellowship.

"The process was really involved and competitive. The proposal I submitted is designed to draw upon the theoretical and philosophical thinking for which scholarship at CTI is globally renowned.

"I’m keen to use this amazing opportunity to use this to advance understanding of practical, community-oriented responses to economic inequality, and of the policy frameworks that need to be in place to effectively support such activities.”

Professor Cam Donaldson, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Vice-Principal (Research), said: "The award of this Fellowship from an Ivy League university is a great honour and represents the stature now attributed to Michael’s work, as well as recognising the international reputation of our Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health.

"Michael’s work on the social economy is a model of the research contribution of Glasgow School for Business and Society to our Common Good mission. Working with colleagues at Princeton will also further establish Glasgow Caledonian’s base in the US HEI landscape."

Last year, Professor Roy won the coveted Helen Potter Award from the Association for Social Economics, also based in the United States, for his social enterprise research.

The annual prize recognises outstanding work that challenges mainstream economic thinking. It is presented to the author of the best article in the academic journal Review of Social Economy.