Session proposals for IEEC2026 are now closed.
All tracks include sessions from any context, including:
- Research* from idea to dissemination and impact
- Delivery of specific enterprise/entrepreneurship courses or programmes
- The integration of enterprise/entrepreneurship education into vocational, humanities and STEAM programmes
- Enterprise Centres and Entrepreneurship Support Organisations
- Extra-curricular and co-curricular activity
There are four types of presentation at for IEEC2026.
Interactive sessions which are underpinned by research or practice and are designed to engage with the audience. Share your best practice through a workshop, panel or audience discussion. Submissions will be selected based on the content value as well as the session design. Interactive sessions need to demonstrate impact for all participants, and should not be used solely to gather feedback about your own project or initiative (50 mins).
Seminars are a more traditional delivery style providing an opportunity to share research or practice. Sessions should allow a minimum of 10 minutes for questions/discussion. We encourage submissions that specifically provide ‘take-away’ knowledge, experience, and practice for delegates (40 mins plus 10 mins for Q+A).
Lightning talks are an opportunity to share your passion, practice or insight, but to do it quickly. Either speaking without slides, or with an automatically advancing deck of 20 slides you will have just 8 minutes to share a topic or practice with delegates. Conference sessions will be made up of 3-4 Lightning talks, followed by a Q+A with all presenters. A shorter abstract is acceptable, care should be taken to focus on delivery as well as content. This is a great format for imaginative submissions (8 mins).
Immersive sessions utilise a double timeslot to enable you to take us inside your classroom or programme. This is a great chance to show off your signature pedagogy or to prototype a new approach. You will have 50 minutes to immerse the audience in your approach, followed by a further 50 minutes in which to seek feedback and prompt discussion and learning around your approaches and content (50mins for immersive element plus 50 mins for discussion/exploration). Immersive sessions will only be awarded to exceptional submissions.
*IEEC is not a traditional research led conference, however we encourage research dissemination where research outputs can be applied directly to practice and projects which are of interest to those delivering enterprise education and support.
We are in negotiation with a leading peer reviewed journal to secure a special issue which will align with the conference theme and include papers from #IEEC2026.
2026 track themes
All submissions fit within this year’s conference theme of Beyond the Boundaries: Fostering a new era of inclusive enterprise and entrepreneurship education (in the age of AI). For more background to the theme, please click here.
IEEC is unlike a traditional research conference, we encourage sessions which share good practice, explore wicked problems and challenge the participants to do more than absorb knowledge.
Successful submissions will explore the track theme from a variety of perspectives, bringing new insight while being grounded in your reality. We see value in comparing and contrasting approaches across traditional boundaries, so submissions which include multiple organisations or faculties and which bridge between different groups have been encouraged.
Track 1 – Beyond Access: Inclusive Entrepreneurship Education
Share your practice or research which demonstrates how programmes and activity are inclusive and/or how Enterprise Education can promote and support inclusivity in a wider context.
- Demonstrate how technology and AI are being used to support inclusive enterprise and entrepreneurship education.
- Show how practice, interventions, curricula, modules, or support programmes be designed to ensure that inclusivity is embedded as an integral and systematic principle from the outset.
- Beyond Barriers – addressing the systemic barriers which restrict participation and high impact outcomes.
- Share good practice in the value of entrepreneurship to diverse communities.
This track includes, but is not restricted to,
- Entrepreneurship across genders
- Neurodiversity and entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship and disability
- Entrepreneurship across cultures and borders
Track 2 – Beyond the Studio: Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Education for Creative & Digital Practitioners
The creative industries contribute over 5% of the UK’s GVA, representing £124bn of value to the UK economy while globally providing around 6% of all employment. Share practice and research which demonstrate how Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education are engaging with and supporting the development of this globally relevant sector.
- Does language matter? Share research and practice which enables engagement with creative practitioners within education and beyond.
- Explore how AI is revolutionising the creative industries and how Enterprise Education is preparing practitioners for disruptive technologies.
- Demonstrate how the creative industries are driving innovation within business and management.
- Share approaches in which creative education is developing lateral thinking, future proof skills and how this value is being applied beyond the studio.
- Share research findings which are relevant to the interplay between enterprise education and the creative industries.
Track 3 – Beyond Extraction: Enterprise Education for Policy, Prosperity & Regenerative Economic Futures
Share practice and research which demonstrates how Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education contribute to sustainable, equitable and regionally relevant economic development. This track explores policy alignment, system-level change, and our role in shaping regenerative and globally connected futures.
- Working with government and policy actors at local, regional, national and supranational contexts.
- Systemic ecosystem building and long-term place-based strategy within sustainability boundaries.
- Developing entrepreneurial competencies that support social, economic and environmental sustainability.
- Structuring globally aligned, scalable entrepreneurship education.
- Supporting sustainable growth, internationalisation and scale-up.
Track 4 – Beyond Careers: Education to develop entrepreneurial futures
Share practice and research which demonstrates how enterprise and entrepreneurship education add value beyond the creation of new ventures. Explore how students and entrepreneurs are being primed for the future of work in a global, AI empowered economy.
- How does pedagogy support the development of entrepreneurial behaviour.
- Working with industry to develop employees with entrepreneurial skills and mindsets.
- The role of enterprise education within the careers function in education systems.
- Capturing and communicating value beyond start-up activity – research approaches and outcomes are particularly welcome.
- Share start-up and business support programmes which are designed for mindset and personal development as well as venture success.
Track 5 – Beyond the Hub: Entrepreneurial Places, Spaces and Teams
In an increasingly remote-first world, what is the evolving role of physical spaces, ESO’s (Entrepreneurship Support Organisations), accelerators and enterprise teams in entrepreneurial ecosystems? This track explores the design, purpose and added value of co-working hubs, incubators, science parks and other innovation spaces – alongside those who run them.
- Best practice in building and sustaining entrepreneurial communities
- The role of place and proximity in a hybrid world.
- Space design, utilisation and the user experience of enterprise centres.
- Programmes and value-added support for residents and users.
- How entrepreneurial champions enable global collaboration and opportunity.
Track 6 – Beyond Funding: Impactful Innovations
This track is exclusively for recipients of EEUK’s Impact Fund (previously EERPF). Presentations will be from any EERPF or Impact Fund recipients to disseminate project outcomes as well as to share updates and follow on activity from legacy projects.
- Dissemination of project outcomes
- Updates, follow on activities and long-term impact from legacy projects