The 2025 Junior Scholars Forum was held at ESSEC Business School Paris, Cergy Campus, on June 19-20, 2025.
Overview
The goal of the forum is to highlight exciting work being done by young scholars and to contribute to the development of their scholarship. It brings together newer researchers, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, working in the general areas of civil society and philanthropy, to increase the sense of intellectual community and enhance the overall quality of research.
In summer 2014, the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society hosted its inaugural Junior Scholars Forum, a gathering that brought together newer researchers with senior scholars for two days of presentations, intensive discussions, and socializing. The forum highlighted exciting work being done in the fields of philanthropy and civil society. The 11 junior scholars selected for the inaugural forum were drawn from a competitive pool of applications and came from political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines.
For the 2025 edition, Stanford PACS partnered with ESSEC Business School’s Philanthropy Chair and Social Innovation Chair to co-host the Junior Scholars Forum in France. The goal of the 2025 Philanthropy and Civil Society Junior Scholars Forum was to support junior scholars (PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty) working and developing research in the general areas of civil society, philanthropy, and social innovation.
The 2025 Forum was limited to 30 participants: 10 organizing faculty; 10 early-stage junior scholars in the first three years of their PhD programs; and 10 advanced junior scholars, including PhD candidates nearing the job market, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty. Early-stage scholars were invited to present their work in a supportive, 2-hour session organized in thematic roundtables. They benefitted from constructive and intimate feedback from more advanced junior scholars. Advanced junior scholars presented their work in a dedicated 1-hour session and benefit from two discussants (a senior faculty member and a fellow junior scholar working on similar topics) as well as questions and feedback from the whole group of participants.
2025 Junior Scholars Forum
Please see below for the 2025 Junior Scholars Forum conference proceedings, agenda and program.