Dr C. Essers (Caroline)

As an Associate Professor of Inclusive Entrepreneurship and Leadership at the Department of Business Administration (SHRL), I conduct research and teach about entrepreneurship and leadership.
My expertise is mainly focused on entrepreneurship by diverse entrepreneurs such as migrants, women, refugees and LGBT people, which often also involves impact/social entrepreneurs. I investigate how these entrepreneurs relate to their surrounding (opportunity) structures in their daily practices, and how public organizations from the broader ecosystem support them with specific policies. I find it interesting to study how this public-private partnership contributes to the empowerment of certain (marginalized) communities, as well as to solving specific societal challenges, such as the exclusion of migrants and women from the labor market.
An important theme for me is which 'identity work' minorities apply in organizations to feel more included, and which forms of leadership different leaders can apply to contribute to this.

My academic work has been published in Organization Studies, Journal of Management, Human Relations, British Journal of Management, Gender Work and Organization, and Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. I am co-editor of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research.

I coordinate the Master Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the course Leadership in Organizations, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Context, amongst others.

Regarding community work: I am the chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Nijmegen School of Management.

Additional activities: scientific advisor Code-V (https://www.code-v.nl/)