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Upcoming Events

Abstract Development Workshop

5 November 2025, 10–11:30 a.m. ET

Please join us for an abstract development workshop designed for scholars interested in submitting an abstract for consideration at the 2026 Diana International Research Conference, in Johannesburg, South Africa with the theme of Transforming Futures: Women and Social Entrepreneurship in a Digital Age.

Workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn how to prepare their abstract, and the review process. Small group break-out sessions will allow for an opportunity to discuss abstract ideas with senior professors.

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Roundtable Discussions

Educator Roundtable Discussions

Each quarter, members of the Diana International Research Institute (DIRI) and other interested stakeholders participate in virtual educator roundtable calls with experts from around the world to discuss best practices, teaching materials, and pedagogies for educating women entrepreneurs.

Researcher Roundtable Discussions

Join us for a series of virtual researcher roundtable discussions with experts from around the world to explore inspiring new research directions, theoretical lenses, methods, and approaches that can lead to new understandings of women’s entrepreneurship.

Investor Roundtable Discussions

Multiple times each year, DIRI members and other interested stakeholders participate in virtual roundtable calls centered around venture capital and investment, with opportunities to learn from and ask questions about the challenges and successes that entrepreneurs have faced during their fundraising journey.

Roundtable Discussions are open to all DIRI members for free and to all non-members for a fee.

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Annual Events

Diana International Research Conference

Established in 1999 by five founding scholars, the Diana International Research Conference is the premier international research conference on women’s entrepreneurship, gathering the collaborative network of researchers studying women’s entrepreneurship from more than 60 countries. Moving to a new global location each year, over 100 scholars from around the world join this annual forum to share global research dedicated to asking and answering questions about women entrepreneurs and how they grow their ventures.

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Diana International Impact Day

Catalyzing Change in Equity Investing: Disruptive Models for Financing Women’s Entrepreneurship

The Diana International Research Institute Impact Day is the first global convening of researchers, educators, investors, policymakers, women entrepreneurs, and other disrupters who are dedicated to advancing women's entrepreneurship through the collective discussion of the unique challenges that these founders are facing. The theme for the inaugural 2019 Impact Day was Catalyzing New Models and Innovations for Financing Women Entrepreneurs where 215+ stakeholders from 14 states and eight countries came together to collectively explore practical solutions, develop best practices in acceleration and funding, and generate needed policy solutions to leverage one of the largest economic opportunities of our time. The day led to the Diana International Impact Report January 2020 (pdf) calling for new models of funding for entrepreneurial women and documentation of the continued disparity in funding by gender.

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Previous Roundtable Discussions

Social Entrepreneurship and the Role of Women

4th Quarter Roundtable, 2024

Speaker: Dr. Maija Renko, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Aalto University, Finland

Why Aren't Entrepreneurial Systems Equitable?

2nd Quarter Roundtable, 2024

Speaker: Dr. Ben Spigel, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College

Bridging Research and Policy in Entrepreneurship

2nd Quarter Roundtable, 2024

Speaker: Dr. Andrew Corbett, Paul T. Babson Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College

Entrepreneurship Education

1st Quarter Roundtable, 2024

Speaker: Dr. Heidi Neck, Jeffry A. Timmons Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College

How Women Invest

1st Quarter Roundtable, 2024

Speaker: Julie Castro Abrams, Founder and Managing Partner of How Women Invest

GEM Women's Report 2022/2023: Challenging Bias and Stereotypes

4th Quarter Roundtable, 2023

Speakers: Dr. Karen Hughes, Dr. Candida Brush, Dr. Amanda Elam, Dr. Mahsa Samsami

A Conversation with our 2023 DIRC Award-Winning Authors

4th Quarter Roundtable, 2023

Speakers: Dr. Diana Hechavarria, Julia Voss, Eunice Cascant, Dr. Maribel Guerrero, Riccarda Joas

A Conversation With Our Award-Winning Researchers

A Conversation with our 2022 DIRC Award-Winning Authors

2nd Quarter Roundtable, 2023

Speakers: Anushka Daunt, Dr. Heatherjean McNeil, Dr. Kathrin Hanek, Dr. Barbara Orser

A Three-Year Retrospective on Women’s Entrepreneurship

1st Quarter Researcher Roundtable, 2023

Speaker: Dr. Amanda Elam

Entrepreneurship Policy Through a Gender Lens

Findings, Next Steps, and Research Opportunities Based on a 27-Country OECD-GWEP Report

Speakers: Dr. Susan Coleman, Dr. Colette Henry, and Dr. Naomi Birdthistle

Mary Jacobs, Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs and MBA Program Director, Saint Mary’s University

Educator Roundtable: Sales Fundamentals

Sales Fundamentals for Women Entrepreneurs & Teaching Sales in an Undergraduate Curriculum

Speaker: Mary Jacobs, Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs and MBA Program Director, Saint Mary’s University

Laurel Taylor, Marian Leitner-Waldman, Ziad Moukheiber

Investor Roundtable: The Fundraising Journey

Fundraising as an Entrepreneur

Speakers: Laurel Taylor of FutureFuel.io, Marian Leitner-Waldman of Archer Roose, and Ziad Moukheiber, President of Boston Harbor Angels

Gender and Entrepreneurship: Insights From and For Research and Teaching

2nd Quarter Educator Roundtable, 2021

Speaker: Vishal K Gupta, Associate Professor, The University of Alabama

Developing and Deploying Behavioral Interventions Designed to Foster Personal Agency

2nd Quarter Educator Roundtable, 2021

Speakers: Anita Shankar, Associate Scientist in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health & Executive Director and Lead Trainer, Self-Empowerment and Equity for Change (SEE Change) Initiative and Paul Spurzem, Lead Trainer and Program Director, SEE Change Initiative

Feminist Business Models: How They Differ, Why They Matter, and How They Support Women

1st Quarter Educator Roundtable, 2021

Speaker: Dr. CV Harquail, Co-Founder of Feminists At Work & Author of Feminism: A Key Idea in Business

Financing Strategies for Women-owned Firms and Corresponding Curriculum Development

4th Quarter Educator Roundtable

Speaker: Dr. Susan Coleman, Professor of Finance Emeritus, University of Hartford

Developing Curriculum that Meets the Needs of Women Entrepreneurs

3rd Quarter Educator Roundtable

Speaker: Dr. Barbara Orser, Full Professor and Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa

Developing Innovative Programming to Weave Together Entrepreneurial Women Throughout the Ecosystem

2nd Quarter Educator Roundtable

Speaker: Dr. Doan Winkel, John J. Kahl Sr. Chair in Entrepreneurship at John Carroll University. Co-Founder of TeachingEntrepreneurship.org; President-Elect, USASBE

Diana International Impact Report Findings

1st Quarter Educator Roundtable

Speaker: Dr. Patti Greene, Former Director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor