Assistant Professor of Management and Organization Ira Chatterjee has been awarded the Veni grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for her research project, “Governing Together for Social Change: How Cross-Sector Partnerships Address Societal Challenges.”
Chatterjee is investigating how governments, businesses, and civil society organizations can work together more effectively to address major societal challenges.
Cross-sector collaboration is becoming increasingly important in addressing challenges such as inequality, climate change, and access to quality education. At the same time, experience shows that many such collaborations struggle to remain effective over the long term or to achieve an impact that extends beyond individual projects. Ira Chatterjee’s research therefore focuses on how these partnerships can be structured sustainably, strengthened, and adapted to different circumstances.
“No single organization can solve today’s most urgent societal challenges on its own. But bringing together governments, businesses, and civil society organizations is only the beginning. Long-term societal change depends on partnerships that can adapt, endure, and continue to create value long after individual projects have been completed,” says Chatterjee.
From successful projects to sustainable collaboration
In her research, Chatterjee combines insights from organizational science and public administration. She looks not only at whether cross-sector collaborations are successful, but especially at how they are organized in practice: which processes help bring different parties together, how collaboration is coordinated, and what is needed to make it work in the long term.
As practical examples, Chatterjee examines collaborations in the field of education in India, the Netherlands, and Finland. These examples offer insight into how different parties can work together to achieve more inclusive and better education, and which approaches are also applicable in other contexts.
The research results in a practical framework that policymakers and professionals can use to develop stronger and more sustainable collaborations. In addition to new scientific knowledge about collaboration between organizations, the project provides concrete tools for making partnerships more inclusive, strengthening long-term collaboration, and adapting successful approaches to new situations.
Research with social impact
According to Chatterjee, the strength of her research lies in bridging the gap between academia and practice. By better understanding how collaborations across different sectors are established and maintained, organizations can contribute more effectively to solutions for complex societal problems.
“I am incredibly happy that this project has been awarded a Veni grant. I am very grateful to the Research Office of the School of Business and Economics for all the guidance and support during the application process, and to my colleagues in the Management and Organization department for their encouragement and feedback.”
Ira Chatterjee is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research lies at the intersection of organizational theory and entrepreneurship. She investigates how organizational practices, institutional structures, and collaboration can help organizations and communities tackle complex societal challenges and create lasting social impact.
In addition to her research on social collaborations, Chatterjee is currently contributing to a World Bank-funded project on the implementation of the WE-Fi Code. This international initiative aims to improve women’s access to finance by strengthening collaboration among governments, regulators, development organizations, and financial institutions. Her broader research interests include social entrepreneurship, women’s entrepreneurship, rural entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration.