Experts from HSE Graduate School of Business receive prestigious Academy of Management Award for Best Professional Development Workshop 2025
The annual AOM 2025 conference is the main global event for the scientific community and the world's largest conference bringing together scholars and practitioners in modern management. This year, the event attracted a record-breaking 13,400 participants from across the globe, underscoring the Academy of Management’s high international standing. During the conference, 3,936 sessions were held, dedicated to research presentations, master classes, professional development workshops, and social networking events. This provided a unique opportunity for the global AOM 2025 audience to connect, develop collaborations, and exchange cutting-edge knowledge against the backdrop of picturesque Copenhagen. The best sessions in each of the Academy of Management's 26 disciplinary divisions and interest groups were awarded.
The Professional Development Workshop «Transforming Mindsets: The Power of Arts-Based Pedagogy in Education for Sustainability», co-organized by Ekaterina Ivanova (Russia), Isabel Rimanoczy (USA), and Divya Singhal (India), was recognized as the best in 2025 and received a prestigious award from the specialized MED division of the Academy of Management. The interactive workshop involved an international team of experts: Mikhail Akim (Russia), Gretchen Renshaw (USA), Saloni Sinha (India), Marina Schmitz (Germany), Secil Bayraktar (France), Thomas Lavelle (Sweden), Fernanda Carreira (Brazil), Charlie Yang (USA), Katharina Spraul (Germany), Roxana Butterworth (UK), Ankit Agarwal (Australia), Inge Brokerhof and Boyana Petrova (Netherlands). They presented posters exploring how to express oneself as both teacher and artist, how aesthetic spaces enhance the learning process, the role of experiential learning in transforming mindsets, and the importance of arts and crafts in education for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The most memorable part of the workshop was an assignment for all participants: to leave the conference room and try themselves as photo artists. Workshop participants had the opportunity to practice the art of contemplative photography on the grounds of the Bella exhibition complex. Upon returning to the conference room, participants shared the results of their creative photo exploration with each other and discussed the posters presented to them with the authors. Summing up the workshop, the organizers thanked all those present for their interest in how creative pedagogical methods contribute to rethinking education for sustainability and forming new meanings, empathy, and responsibility in future business leaders.
Associate Professor, Department of Strategic and International Management, HSE Graduate School of Business
"The award for the best Professional Development Workshop from the Academy of Management came as a pleasant surprise and a great honour for all of us. Especially on the eve of the publication by Routledge of the book 'The Power of Arts-Based Pedagogies: Transforming Mindsets to Shape Our Future', in which all PDW participants were involved. As co-editor and initiator of this book, which involved 20 author teams from 17 countries around the world, I am deeply grateful to our colleagues for their high recognition of our work and look forward to presenting the book in Moscow!"
We congratulate our colleagues on the high international recognition of innovative pedagogical practices and wish them success in the new academic year! This recognition highlights HSE Graduate School of Business’s dedication to pedagogical innovation and the advancement of globally relevant teaching practices that foster the positive impact of business on both society and the environment.
