Galatasaray University, Ortaököy, Istanbul · Helge Høifødt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Türkiye · Istanbul · Galatasaray University
Societal audit and the French-speaking world
Rethinking impact management, building bridges and sharing perspectives.
Submit my paper (form in French)
Dates confirmed. The programme is being finalised with Galatasaray University
Presentation and research question
Istanbul links two continents. Türkiye stands at the junction of Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean, and Galatasaray University, the country’s only French-speaking university, extends this role as a crossing point into the world of knowledge. From this bridging place, the 3rd IAS Autumn University invites academics and practitioners to reflect together on three interconnected questions: the French-speaking world, impact management and sustainability.
Digital, ecological, social and geopolitical transitions are profoundly changing the environments in which organisations and institutions operate. They call into question their management practices, governance models, responsibilities and capacity for cooperation. Companies, public institutions, international organisations and civil society actors must adapt the way they decide and act. Three perspectives shed light on these changes.
The French-speaking world, a space for cooperation
The French-speaking world connects researchers, institutions and companies whose contexts differ profoundly. It offers a space where management models circulate, meet and adapt, without any one of them becoming the single norm. How can this circulation foster more relevant and fairer practices? What role can universities play as bridges between cultures and bodies of knowledge?
Impact management
Organisations are increasingly expected to account for their effects, not just their results. Rethinking impact management means being able to establish, other than by mere declaration, what they actually produce for their stakeholders, for society and for the environment. How can organisations be managed through their impacts? What role can social and societal audit, the core expertise of the IAS, play in making these measurements credible?
Sustainability
A positive impact only makes sense if it can be sustained over time, without exhausting the human, social and natural resources on which organisations depend. How can performance, responsibility and respect for people be reconciled in the long term? How can sustainability be made measurable, auditable and clear? Here the University builds on the Institute’s work on the audit and management of sustainability.
Sharing these perspectives from a bridging place. These three questions are best asked together, and from Istanbul. Impact measurement models and sustainability frameworks travel from one region to another, but are not applied everywhere in the same way. A crossing point between management traditions invites us to examine these movements: what can be transposed, what must be adapted, what has to be reinvented.
The 2027 Autumn University is jointly organised by the International Management School Geneva (IMSG), the Institut International de l’Audit Social et Sociétal (IAS) and Galatasaray University (GSÜ). The third IAS Autumn University, after Kinshasa and Pointe-Noire, it is the first to be held in Türkiye. It welcomes perspectives from management science, economics, political science and international relations. Contributions must make an explicit link with changes in management, governance or cooperation practices.
Objectives
- Bring researchers and practitioners into dialogue on the French-speaking world, impact management and sustainability.
- Analyse how management practices and governance models are changing in the face of the major transitions.
- Examine how the impacts of organisations can be measured, audited, made clear to their stakeholders and sustained over time.
- Understand how management and measurement models travel and adapt from one context to another, from Türkiye’s position as a bridge.
- Encourage comparative research and cooperation across the French-speaking world.
Five themes
Proposals may fall under one of the following five themes, taken from Galatasaray University’s proposal. Each is invited to explain how it sheds light on at least one of the University’s three cross-cutting questions: the French-speaking world, impact management, sustainability. Interdisciplinary work is encouraged, provided it contributes to the central question; the themes will be refined by the joint IAS and Galatasaray University scientific committee.
Management and governance in the face of digital and technological transitions
- Artificial intelligence and the transformation of management practices
- Governance, regulation and accountability of digital technologies
- Ethics of algorithms and decision-making
- Transformation of organisations, occupations and skills
- Technological innovation and new governance models
Social responsibility, durability, sustainability and governance of ecological transitions
- Social responsibility of organisations and ESG performance
- Governance of the ecological transition
- Social and societal audit and the assessment of responsible commitments
- Sustainability strategies and responsible business models
- Cooperation between public and private actors on environmental challenges
Changes in work, leadership and human governance
- Changes in work and new management practices
- Ethical and responsible leadership
- Organisational justice, trust and psychological safety
- Diversity, inclusion and quality of working life
- Responsible human resource management and social dialogue
International governance and the management of interdependencies
- Geopolitical change and organisational adaptation
- Global governance and cooperation between public and private actors
- Economic and climate diplomacy and the governance of transitions
- Responsibility of multinational companies and global value chains
- International crisis management and institutional resilience
The French-speaking world, intercultural cooperation and the circulation of management models
- The French-speaking world and scientific cooperation on changes in management
- Intercultural management and the diversity of governance models
- Circulation and adaptation of management practices across contexts
- Cooperation between universities, institutions and companies
- The role of universities as bridges between cultures and bodies of knowledge
Planned format
This call is addressed to academics, doctoral students, professionals, institutional leaders and civil society actors. Theoretical, empirical and comparative contributions and case studies are welcome. Accounts of experience from practitioners, auditors and organisational leaders are particularly welcome.
Duration
Two academic and professional days, with opening and closing plenary sessions.
Workshops
6 to 8 parallel thematic workshops in French, with papers also accepted in English and Turkish (simultaneous interpretation for Turkish: in progress, technical solution being sought).
Doctoral students
On Saturday 13 November 2027, a doctoral workshop (DBA and PhD): research in progress, mentoring, networking.
Planned publications: bilingual French/English conference proceedings, a collective volume co-edited by the IAS and Galatasaray, and a special issue “Management et Francophonie” of the journal Question(s) de Management.
Submitting a paper
Proposals should state the research question, objectives, theoretical or conceptual framework, methodology (where relevant), expected results or contributions and the chosen theme.
Proposals are submitted online through the “Je soumets ma communication” form (in French), or by email to soumission-istanbul@auditsocial.world.
Submission takes place in two stages. A statement of intent (provisional title and short abstract) is due by Sunday 31 January 2027 at the latest; the final submission by Thursday 30 September 2027 at the latest. Both use the same form.
Send my statement of intent (form in French)
Submit my paper (form in French)
Languages. French is the working language of the University; papers in English and Turkish are also accepted, those in Turkish with simultaneous interpretation (in progress, technical solution being sought). Abstracts may be written in Turkish, together with a French or English version. Texts for the proceedings are written in French or English.
Length guidelines, review procedures and any publication opportunities will be announced once approved by the scientific committee.
- Scientific and organising committees: being set up. Scientific committee contact: scientifique@auditsocial.world.
- Deadline for statements of intent: Sunday 31 January 2027.
- Deadline for final submissions: Thursday 30 September 2027. Notification: to be confirmed.
- Submissions: soumission-istanbul@auditsocial.world
The French-speaking world, impact management and sustainability: from Istanbul, an invitation to build bridges and share perspectives in order to rethink management and governance practices.
Scientific coordination
Dr Belgin Bahar · Galatasaray University