Management Practice Professor of Social Innovation
Director of the Master of Studies in Social Innovation Programme
Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation
Professorial Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College
BA (Bradford University), PG Cert (Anglia Ruskin University), MSt (University of Cambridge), DProf (Middlesex University)
My research interests include social innovation, social purpose organisations and the practice of social organising.
I was previously Chief Executive of Keystone Development Trust, delivering community and property development and social enterprises in the UK. I’m a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, a Fellow in Clayton State University’s Center for Social Innovation & Sustainable Entrepreneurship, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University, Newfoundland.
I’m part of the Organisational Theory and Information Systems subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which is engaged with cross-disciplinary themes, such as leadership.
Professional experience
Neil Stott was Chief Executive of Keystone Development Trust until April 2015. Keystone is one of the largest development trusts in the country delivering community development, social enterprises and property development.
Neil is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a Fellow of the Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, a Fellow in Clayton State University’s Center for Social Innovation & Sustainable Entrepreneurship, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University, Newfoundland.
Previous appointments
Previously Neil was Head of Community Development at Canterbury City Council, Principal Officer (Community) at Cambridge City Council, a Senior Associate of Locality’s consultancy, and a youth and community worker for a number of children’s charities including Mencap, Elfrida Rathbone and Contact-a-Family in London.
Neil has managed a wide variety of public and social sector services including community safety, racial harassment investigations, race equality, grants, tenant participation and children, youth and community projects.
Neil has been a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (SFIPM), and a Visiting Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University.
Publications
- Selected publications
- Journal articles
- Books, monographs, reports and case studies
- Book chapters
- Conference papers
Selected publications
- Stott, N., Darlington, M., Brenton, J. and Slawinski, N. (2022) “Partnerships and place: the role of community enterprise in cross-sector work for sustainability.” In: George, G., Haas, M.R., Joshi, H., McGahan, A.M. and Tracey, P. (eds.) (2022) Handbook on the business of sustainability: the organization, implementation, and practice of sustainable growth. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.118-136
- Prieto, L.C., Phipps, S.T.A., Giugni, L. and Stott, N. (2021) “Teaching (cooperative) business: the ‘Bluefield experiment’ and the future of Black business schools.” Academy of Management Learning and Education, 20(3): 320-341 (DOI: 10.5465/amle.2020.0127)
- Stott, N. and Fava, M. (2020) “Challenging racialized institutions: a history of black and minority ethnic housing associations in England between 1948 and 2018.” Journal of Management History, 26(3): 315-333 (DOI: 10.1108/JMH-08-2019-0053)
- Stott, N., Fava, M. and Slawinski, N. (2019) “Community social innovation: taking a long view on community enterprise.” In: George, G., Baker, T., Tracey, P. and Joshi, H. (eds.) Handbook of inclusive innovation: the role of organizations, markets and communities in social innovation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.145-166
- Stott, N. and Tracey, P. (2018) “Organizing and innovating in poor places.” Innovation: Organization and Management, 20(1): 1-17 (DOI: 10.1080/14479338.2017.1358093)
- Tracey, P. and Stott, N. (2017) “Social innovation: a window on alternative ways of organizing and innovating.” Innovation: Organization and Management, 19(1): 51-60 (DOI: 10.1080/14479338.2016.1268924)
Journal articles
- Phipps, S., Prieto, L., Giugni, L. and Stott, N. (2021) “The Bluefield experiment in co-op economics: why it matters for HBCUs today.” Nonprofit Quarterly, 3 November 2021
- Prieto, L.C., Phipps, S.T.A., Giugni, L. and Stott, N. (2021) “Teaching (cooperative) business: the ‘Bluefield experiment’ and the future of Black business schools.” Academy of Management Learning and Education, 20(3): 320-341 (DOI: 10.5465/amle.2020.0127)
- Stott, N. and Fava, M. (2020) “Challenging racialized institutions: a history of black and minority ethnic housing associations in England between 1948 and 2018.” Journal of Management History, 26(3): 315-333 (DOI: 10.1108/JMH-08-2019-0053)
- Stott, N. and Tracey, P. (2018) “Organizing and innovating in poor places.” Innovation: Organization and Management, 20(1): 1-17 (DOI: 10.1080/14479338.2017.1358093)
- Tracey, P. and Stott, N. (2017) “Social innovation: a window on alternative ways of organizing and innovating.” Innovation: Organization and Management, 19(1): 51-60 (DOI: 10.1080/14479338.2016.1268924)
- Stott, N. and Tracey, P. (2007) “Between a rock and a hard place? Exploring the strategic tensions experienced by development trusts.” Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services, 6(3): 45-56
Books, monographs, reports and case studies
- Collis, A., Stott, N., Crozier R. and Martin, K. (2011) Work matters: work, worklessness and community: a review of the issues. Thetford: Keystone Development Trust Publications.
- Stott, N. and Longhurst, N. (2011) “Big society and poor places.” In: Stott, M. (ed.) The big society challenge. Thetford: Keystone Development Trust Publications, pp.100-111
- Collis, A., Stott, N. and Ross, D. (2010) Workers on the move 2: European migrant workers and health in the UK: a review of the issues. Thetford: Keystone Development Trust.
- Collis, A., Stott, N. and Ross, D. (2010) Workers on the move 3: European migrant workers and health in the UK. Thetford: Keystone Development Trust Publications.
- Stott, M., Stott, N. and Wiles, C. (2009) Learning from the past? Building community in new towns and growth areas. Thetford: Keystone Development Trust.
- Wiles, C., Stott, N., Holman, D., Schneider, C. and Collis, A. (2008) Migrants on the move: migrant workers, growth and housing in the eastern region. Thetford: Keystone Development Trust.
Book chapters
- Darlington, M., Jenkins, G. and Stott, N. (2023) “From welfare to work: Marsh Farm outreach and the ‘Organization Workshop’ in Luton, United Kingdom.” In: Slawinski, N., Lowery, B., Seto, A., Stoddart, M. and Vodden, K. (eds.) Revitalizing PLACE through social enterprise. St John’s: Memorial University Press
- Stott, N., Darlington, M., Brenton, J. and Slawinski, N. (2022) “Partnerships and place: the role of community enterprise in cross-sector work for sustainability.” In: George, G., Haas, M.R., Joshi, H., McGahan, A.M. and Tracey, P. (eds.) (2022) Handbook on the business of sustainability: the organization, implementation, and practice of sustainable growth. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.118-136
- Stott, N., Fava, M. and Slawinski, N. (2019) “Community social innovation: taking a long view on community enterprise.” In: George, G., Baker, T., Tracey, P. and Joshi, H. (eds.) Handbook of inclusive innovation: the role of organizations, markets and communities in social innovation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.145-166
Conference papers
- Lardner, Y and Stott, N. (2022) “Organisational socialisation and the journey to leadership: exploring the experience of Black senior organisational leaders in the UK.” In: Purposeful Work Symposium (PWS), 18 May 2022, University of Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh, UK.
- Prieto, L., Phipps, S. and Stott, N. (2023) “Leon Sullivan, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the fight for racial and economic justice for Black workers.” In: Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (83rd), 4-8 August 2023, Boston, MA, USA.
- Yi, J. and Stott, N. (2023) “Dismantling the bamboo ceiling: Asian American Pacific Islanders in the United States Air Force” In: Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society Biennial Conference, 13-15 October 2023, Reston, VA, USA.
- Stott, N., Pendlebury, J. and Demarco, W. (2023) “The keepers and the kept: social innovation in United Nations Peacekeeping.” In: Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society Biennial Conference, 13-15 October 2023, Reston, VA, USA.
- Lardner, Y. and Stott, N. (2022) “Leadership, identity and race: exploring the Black experience.” In: Workshop on New Institutionalism in Organization Theory Conference (NIW) (17th), 24-25 March 2022, IE University, Madrid, Spain.
- Lardner, Y. and Stott, N. (2022) “Leadership, identity and race: exploring the Black experience.” In: Organizing: The Beauty of Imperfection, EGOS Colloquium (38th), 7-9 July 2022, WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business), Vienna, Austria.
- Prieto, L., Phipps, S., Stott, N. and Giugni, L. (2021) “Teaching cooperative entrepreneurship: insights from Black history.” In: United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) conference, 5-8 January 2021, Online.
- Saravanos, A., Zervoudakis, S., Zheng, D., Stott, N., Hawrluk, B. and Delfino, D. (2021) “The hidden cost of using Amazon Mechanical Turk for research.” In: Stephanidis, C. et al (eds.) HCI International 2021 – late breaking papers: design and user experience, 24-29 June 2021, Washington, DC, USA. Champaign: Springer, pp.147-164 (DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-90238-4_12)
- Stewart, J., Giugni, L. and Stott, N. (2019) “Equality in the US military: men may be sensitive after all.” In: Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society Biennial Conference, 8-10 November 2019, Reston, VA, USA.
- Giugni, L., Stott, N. and Vona, R. (2018) “A social enterprise in Gomorrah-land: a tale of radical cultural entrepreneurship and social innovation management.” In: Transformative business strategies and new patterns for value creation: Sinergie-SIMA Conference, 14-15 June 2018, Venice, Italy.
- Stott, N., Fava, M., Tracey, P. and Claus, L. (2018) “Leading urgent acts of categorisation: the construction of ‘community anchor organizations’.” In: Leading Social Innovation Symposium, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 10-14 August 2018, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Stott, N. and Fava, M. (2018) “Researching community social organizing.” In: Development Trust Association Scotland Conference, 2-3 September 2018, Aberdeen, UK.
- Stott, N., Fava, M., Tracey, P. and Claus, L. (2018) “Playing well with others? Community cross-sector work in poor places.” In: Re-thinking Cross-Sector Social Innovation Conference, 6-7 April 2018, Social Innovation and Change Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Stott, N. (2010) “Anticipating military work: digital games as a source of anticipatory socialization?”In: Annual Conference of the British International Studies Association Working Group on US Foreign Policy (5th), 14-15 September 2010, Leeds University, Leeds, UK.
Awards and honours
- University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Award, 2017
News and insights
ESG and sustainability
5 principles to address climate change
How to tackle climate change using a social generative approach including sacrifice and ecological design, as drawn from examples studied at the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation.
Research centre news
Cambridge Peaceshaping and Climate Lab is announced
The new Lab seeks to spot climate-related conflict before it occurs and pre-empt it through socio-ecological action.
There are 5 blockages that have made progress painfully slow in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, says research from the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation.
Media coverage
Varsity | 1 October 2021
‘I refused to give in’: the Cambridge master’s student who helped Afghan students escape Kabul
Selene Biffi, a current student Masters in Social Innovation student at Cambridge Judge Business School, tells how she helped her former escape Afghanistan as the Taliban took over. “Distressed is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about those moments”, Selene says. “However, I refused to give in and watch things unfold from a distance, and instead leveraged the feelings I had to look for options to help.”
BME National | 19 December 2019
A history of BME housing associations
A new study from Cambridge Judge Business School examines how Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) housing associations in England developed and evolved since the 1948 “Windrush generation”. The study co-authored by Dr Neil Stott and Michelle Darlington from the Centre for Social Innovation focuses on a largely neglected topic: racialised interactions at an organisational level. “The study aims to address the fact that racialised groups have been largely invisible in the organisational literature. We encourage more extensive empirical research on forgotten activism to overcome the daily grind of racism, including the history of individual associations and their communities,” Dr Stott says.
Gazette | 23 February 2018
Cambridge fellows
Two people from Memorial University in Newfoundland are named fellows of social innovation at the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge. Dr Natalie Slawinski, Associate Professor of Strategy at the Faculty of Business Administration, has been named a research fellow, and Nicole Helwig, Manager, Centre for Social Enterprise, has been named a practitioner fellow. The fellowship came about after Dr Neil Stott and Professor Paul Tracey visited Memorial’s Centre for Social Enterprise in 2017. “We do things slightly different in our centre,” Dr Stott said of the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation. “It’s about helping each other — mutual reinforcement and mutual learning — and building a community around social innovation.”