Beyond Traditional Project Management: The Role of Projects and Programs in Responding to Societal and Humanitarian Issues

Call for Papers

Beyond Traditional Project Management: The Role of Projects and Programs in Responding to Societal and Humanitarian Issues

JOURNAL : International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

PUBLISHER: Emerald Publishing

SUBMISSION OPENS: 15 December 2025

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 31 October 2026

ABOUT THIS SPECIAL ISSUE

This special issue invites researchers to investigate projects focused on addressing challenges faced due to societal and humanitarian concerns. The research reported would potentially cover how projects and programs are conceived, developed, and implemented — and how they are organised and delivered to contribute to addressing such concerns.

Projects and programs under this special issue's scope may use novel methods specifically developed to meet stakeholder needs in societal and humanitarian contexts. The success criteria for these types of projects may be centred explicitly on purpose and value rather than cost, with timeliness and quality from the immediate stakeholders' point of view being critically important.

We request the global community of project management scholars to help meet these challenges by providing theorised empirical case studies of projects oriented to societal and humanitarian concerns caused by conflicts, climate change, dislocations, forced repatriations, and the impact of artificial intelligence on employment.

All submitted articles are expected to be:

• Theoretically well developed

• Inclusive of implications for practice

• Original contributions to the corpus of project studies

• Inter- and trans-disciplinary in scope

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES

Researchers are encouraged to use novel methods, including but not limited to:

1. Participatory research methods — Participatory action research, participatory modelling, and ethnoventionist research approaches.

2. Storytelling and narrative research — Gathering data from vulnerable parts of society through narrative and storytelling methods.

3. Causal layered analysis — Exploring organisational and societal transformation in futures research.

4. Exploratory research — Unearthing glocal and innovative sustainable practices in projects and communities.

5. Social network methods — Addressing coopetition tensions in project ecologies.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

Potential theories relevant to this special issue include but are not limited to:

• Realist social theory and morphogenic sequencing

• Socio-cognitive theory

• Paradox theory

• Theories of power — process and practice-based approaches

• Historical perspectives on development projects

• Sociotechnical transition theories and multi-level perspectives

• Program evaluation for social justice and sustainability

• Complexity theory and systems theory

• Practice theory for socio-cultural and inclusive development

SCOPE & THEME AREAS

We invite submissions addressing (but not limited to) the following themes:

1. Projects responding to humanitarian crises — How projects and programs are designed and delivered in conflict zones, disaster settings, and humanitarian emergencies.

2. Climate change and environmental projects — Project management approaches addressing climate-driven dislocations, environmental degradation, and ecological transition.

3. Social justice and inclusive development — Projects that explicitly centre equity, inclusion, and fair access to resources and opportunities.

4. AI, technology, and employment disruption — Projects and programmes responding to the societal impacts of artificial intelligence on work and livelihoods.

5. Forced migration and repatriation — Projects addressing challenges of displacement, forced repatriation, and refugee support.

6. Community-centred and participatory project delivery — Locally contextual, practice-situated methods of project management that centre community needs.

7. Novel methodologies in project studies — Innovative research methods and theoretical frameworks applied to societal and humanitarian project contexts.

GUEST EDITORS

Shobha Ramalingam ✉️ Contact via journal submission system

Stewart Clegg ✉️ Contact via journal submission system

Efrosyni Konstantinou ✉️ Contact via journal submission system

Suhair Alkilani ✉️ Contact via journal submission system

Shankar Sankaran ✉️ Contact via journal submission system

KEY DEADLINES & DATES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

How to submit: Manuscripts must be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts, strictly following the journal's author guidelines.

Selecting the special issue: At the appropriate submission step, authors must select the special issue title from the drop-down menu in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to."

Eligibility: Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication elsewhere while under review.

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