“Disabilities and Technologies”
We have an amazing program set up for you! Below you can find out what we have planned for each of the five days. This year’s Spring Institute will focus on f technology . This Spring Institute employs an allyship model of research in which disabled and non-disabled researchers work together. Many of our faculty members are disabled themselves or are carers of disabled family members.
Every day, sessions will run from 1-5pm UK time. The entire event is free of charge and virtual and will be hosted via Zoom. .
Co-Founders
Anica Zeyen
Professorin Entrepreneurship and Inclusion, Royal Holloway Business School, Royal Holloway University of London (UK)
Dr Anica Zeyen is a blind academic whose work sits at the intersection of entrepreneurship, organisation, disability research, and leisure, art, and culture. She leads and collaborates on research projects across the Global South and Global North, examining how dominant ideas about work, productivity, and “the right way” to live shape inclusion and exclusion across professional, cultural, and everyday spaces. Her research is grounded in inclusive, qualitative approaches and informed by lived experience, with a strong commitment to ethical, participatory, and accessible research practice. Anica’s work challenges deficit-based and instrumental framings of disability, foregrounding disability as a source of insight into organising, leadership, creativity, and social change. Alongside her academic work, she contributes to public conversations on access, inclusion, and everyday life through writing, speaking, and disability advocacy.. More on her work on her web page.
Oana Branzei
Professor of Strategy, Ivey Business School, Western University (Canada
Dr. Oana Branzei is a Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at the Ivey Business School, Western University. Her areas of expertise include social innovation, social enterprise, and organizing for self-, society-, and system-transformation in response to grand challenges. She has held editorial positions on the boards of the ‘Academy of Management Review’, ‘Journal of Management’, ‘Journal of International Business Studies’. She is completing her second full term as field editor of the Journal of Business Venturing and co-edited several recent special issues on prosocial, regenerative, place-based and inclusive organizing.
Pre-Session 16 February
This session takes place before the Spring Institute and will help you prepare.
During this 90-minute session (1 – 2:30pm UK time), we will introduce you to the Spring Institute Format, provide you with all the necessary information to get the most out of the Spring Institute.
Spring Institute 2026
Sunday, 1 March 2026
Opening Keynote
Why Disability Will Determine Who Thrives in the AI Age
Laurie Henneborn
Ethigen Advisory – Founder & Principal Advisor; former Managing Director, Accenture. AAPD board member(Ireland)
Laurie Henneborn? is a globally recognized leader and inclusive technology, AI ethics, and disability inclusion. With more than two decades at Accenture as managing director, Laurie has shaped thought leadership showcase at Davos, CES, MWC, and across the Fortune 100. Her research and publications – including in Harvard Business Review and Stanford Social Innovation Review – have positioned her at the forefront of inclusive, AI design, accessible, innovation, and the future of work.
Physical Disability in the Workplace
Wyett Lee
USA
bio to follow
Ashley Roccapriore
USA
bio to follow
Franz Lohrke
USA
bio to follow
Christopher Reutzel
USA
bio to follow
Mental Health and Mental Illness in Organisations
Emily Rosado-Solomon (She/Her)
USA
bio to follow
Jacklyn Koopman
USA
bio to follow
Matthew A Cronin
USA
bio to follow
Wyett Lee
USA
bio to follow
Monday, 2 March 2026
This day will feature innovative theoretical lenses on disability and technology.
The Ethics and Morality of Market-Based Hope in Illness Entrepreneurship
Susi Geiger
Ireland
bio to follow
Work-related Psychological Trauma
Madelynn Stackhouse
Associate Professor, Bryan School of Business & Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro(USA)
Madelynn Stackhouse is Associate Professor of Management, Margaret Van Hoy Hill Dean’s Notable Scholar, and Human Resources Program Director at UNC at Greensboro. Her research investigates the ethics and relationships in the workplace across multiple levels of analysis. Her research has been featured in top outlets such as Academy of Management Annals, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. She has consulted with Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller private and non-profit organizations.
Recovering from Microagressions at work
Basima Tewfik
MIT Sloan School of Business )USA)
Basima Tewfik (pronounced buh-see-ma too-fik) is an Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research examines the “science of the social self at work,” with a particular focus on what she terms workplace impostor thoughts—the belief that others overestimate one’s competence—popularly known as impostor syndrome. Her work has been published in leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Organization Science, and has earned recognition from INFORMS, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Academy of Management. She holds a PhD in management (Organizational Behavior) from the Wharton School and an AB, summa cum laude, in psychology with a secondary in economics from Harvard University.
Summer Jackson
USA
bio to follow
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
This day focusses on methodological innovations for disability research.
Multimodality at Work
Dennis Jancsary
University of Liverpool Management School (UK) & WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria)
Dennis Jancsary (dennis.jancsary@liverpool.ac.uk) is Chair in Organisation Studies at the University of Liverpool Management School. He is also a senior research fellow at WU Vienna, where he earned his PhD. He studies organizational landscapes from an institutional theory perspective, visual and multimodal forms of communication, and discursive absences and silences.
Lehtonen Miikka
Associate Professor, University of Tokyo College of Design Planning and Coordination Office (Japan)
Miikka J. Lehtonen (lehtonen.miikka@mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp) is project associate professor at the University of Tokyo College of Design Planning and Coordination Office. He earned his PhD from Aalto University. School of Business. His current research interests focus on visual methodologies and knowledge production, management and creativity in game companies, design practices and management in contemporary organizations, and (blended) design pedagogies.
Messing up Visual Management studies
Michelle Greenwood
Professor, Department of Management, Monash Business School, Monash University, (Australia)
Michelle Greenwood is Professor at Monash University, Australia. Michelle’s research is in critical business ethics. Her current research is in violence and organisation. Michelle serves as co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Business Ethics.
Shao, KaiYu (Sky)
Professor, College of Business Administration, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing (China)
Shao, KaiYu (Sky) is an Associate Professor at Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, China. Her research explores the intersection of visual studies, ethics, and social science philosophy. Specifically, she investigates the ethical dimensions of visual organization, the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of visual research, and the socio-ethical implications of management studies.
Maddy Jensson
Professor, Department of Work and Organization Studies, Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven( Belgium )
Maddy Janssens is a professor at the KU Leuven in Belgium. Her research critically investigates the ways in which differences are constructed and addressed in a wide variety of organizational domains. Together with Prof. Chris Steyaert, she recently published a book ‘On practicing diversity’ in which diversity management is reconceptualized as a form of organizational worldmaking.
Food and Fat at Work: Eighty-Three Moments from a Binge Eater’s Professional Life
Daniel Newark
Associate Professor, Management & Human Resources Department, HEC Paris(France)
Daniel Newark is an Associate Professor of Management at HEC Paris. His research focuses on decision making and identity.
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
tba
Thursday, 5 March 2026
For the first time, this year we are able to run a full day on special issues in the field of management and disabilities. This shows us how much the field has grown. .
Academy of Management Discoveries on Neurodiversity
Rob Austin
Canada
bio to follow
Academy of Management Learning & Education Special Issue on Neuroinnclusion
Sophie Hennekam
Professor, Audencia Business School in Nantes (France)
background in psychology and studies topics related to diversity, inclusion and inequality. She focuses specifically on stigmatized and invisible populations. She works in collaboration with industry partners and has published in academic journals like Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies and Human Relations.
Katrin Mühlfeld
Germany
bio to follow
Organization Studies Special Issue on Embodying Process
Emily Heaphy
USA
bio to follow
Nancy Harding
UK
bio to follow
Journal of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development Special Issue on Entrepreneurs with Disability
Christel Tessier Dargent
Professor, Université Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne (France)
A graduate of ESCP Business School, Paris, PhD in Entrepreneurship, I first pursued an international career in strategy and IS consulting for multinational companies before moving on to supporting entrepreneurs. My research focuses on inclusive entrepreneurship, especially by people with disabilities, and responsible entrepreneurial education, using qualitative approaches.
Spring Institute 