Subhanjan Sengupta, Ph.D.
Academy of Finland PostDoc
Principal Investigator, Project MILESTONE
Business School, University of Eastern Finland
Bio
Dr. Subhanjan Sengupta works at the Business School, University of Eastern Finland, as an Academy of Finland PostDoc and Principal Investigator of Project MILESTONE (Making Circular Economy Socially Inclusive through Entrepreneurship), funded by the Academy of Finland.
I have a keen interest on how entrepreneurship integrates and advances social and environmental sustainability. It intrigues me to explore the capacity of entrepreneurial actors (sustainability-oriented enterprises, social enterprises) and institutional actors (networks, communities) in doing so jointly. With that interest, my current research is mainly about the making of a socially inclusive circular economy through entrepreneurship and the role of business models in sustainability.
Prior to this, I have studied social entrepreneurship in rural settings, particularly on the social-market convergence and the ethic of care. Occasionally, I also try to develop a multidisciplinary understanding in my research by collaborating with specialists from other fields such as environmental sciences, biological sciences, and policy.
I have developed and taught courses on entrepreneurship, responsible and sustainable business, strategic management, and qualitative research methods.
Achievements
2022-2025 Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher Grant from the Research Council for Culture and Society, Academy of Finland
2020 Best Business Ethics Paper Award: Finalist in Social issues in Management Division, Academy of Management (AOM)
2020 Dean's Best Researcher Award, Birla Institute of Management Technology, India
2019 Jagdish Sheth Best PhD Thesis Award, Birla Institute of Management Technology, India
2018 EDUFI Fellowship, Finnish National Agency for Education, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland.
2017 & 2018 Invited Examiner at the School of Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) India to evaluate elevator pitch practice sessions of fellow social entrepreneurs
2018 Invited Keynote Speaker on ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Alternative Politics’ at Centre for Peace and Sustainability, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, India
2018 The Case Centre Best Case Award, The Case Centre, ICMC 2018 (International Conference for Management Cases, 2018), Birla Institute of Management Technology, India
2018 Advisory Body Member of Teach For Green, a reputed social enterprise in India
News
• New India-Finland collaborative research project CESMI (Circular Economy Solutions for Microplastics: Indo-Finnish Scientific Collaboration for Innovation), funded by Ministry of Education and Culture (Finland), under the initiative of the bilateral cooperation - FICORE (Finnish India Consortia for Education and Research).
Project partners include University of Eastern Finland (UEF) , Tampere University , IIT Delhi , IIT Guwahati and IIT Dharwad.
The project is multidisciplinary, bringing researchers from environmental sciences, biological sciences, social sciences and business studies, to explore the role of science, society, business and non-business actors, in addressing challenges towards a plastic circular economy in general and microplastic contaminantion in particular.
• Awarded prestigious Academy of Finland research funding for a three-year ambitious Postdoctoral Research and international research mobility: https://www.aka.fi/en/about-us/whats-new/press-releases/2022/first-rate-early-career-researchers-granted-postdoctoral-researcher-funding-in-social-sciences-and-humanities-research/
• New podcast on ethics in entrepreneurship: https://entrepreneurship-erd.com/podcast/authors-36-subhanja-sengupta-hanna-lehtimaki-contextual-understanding-of-care-ethics-in-social-entrepreneurship/
• Interviewed and featured by Inkpothub Media, India’s first digital platform for communicating business and management research. Link: https://www.inkpothub.com/research-stories/the-doctoral-journey-builds-character-ft-dr-subhanjan-sengupta-bimtech/
• Kick-Off Meeting of Indo-UK research project TRANSSITioN held on 13th August 2019. Sponsored by STFC-GCRF, UK; led by University of Sheffield and STFC, 10 UK India partners. https://transsition.org