“Tackling Grand Challenges with Projects”

Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Tackling Grand Challenges with Projects”

Journal: International Journal of Project Management
Publisher: Elsevier
Submission deadline: 31 December 2026

Overview

This special issue—published by Elsevier—investigates the intersection of project management and "grand challenges"—those complex, systemic, and multi-stakeholder problems such as climate change, pandemics, poverty, and food security. While traditional project management often focuses on short-term success for single sponsors, grand challenge projects require long-term, inter-organizational collaboration amidst high uncertainty and conflicting stakeholder interests. The editors seek to develop a behavior theory for these "grand challenge projects" and bridge the gap between project practice and societal impact.

Key Research Themes

• Theoretical Foundations: Understanding the existence, behavior, and differentiation of "grand challenge projects" compared to traditional endeavors.

• Strategic Alignment: Evaluating the contribution of portfolios and programs to societal goals and determining success/failure metrics in highly uncertain contexts.

• Collaboration & Governance: How to coordinate diverse actors (public, private, NGO) across jurisdictional boundaries and manage the paradoxes of competing organizational interests.

• Systemic Impacts: Analyzing whether "projectification" serves as a boon or a bane for solving world-scale problems and how projects can transition into sustainable, long-term societal change.

• Methodological Innovation: Bridging project management theory with broader organizational, sociological, and economic perspectives.

Submission Details

• Submission deadline: 31 December 2026.

• Submission portal: https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/jpma/default2.aspx

• Special Instructions: You must send a 1,000-word abstract to the lead Guest Editor, Lavagnon Ika (Ika@telfer.uottawa.ca), to assess suitability prior to full submission. During the formal submission, you must select the article type “SI: Tackling Grand Challenges with Projects”.

• Submission Standards: Both conceptual and empirical papers are welcomed. All manuscripts must adhere to the International Journal of Project Management Guide for Authors.

Guest Editor Team

• Lavagnon Ika, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa (Ika@telfer.uottawa.ca)

• Dror Etzion, Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont

Why This Issue Matters

We live in a "project world," yet the application of project management to grand challenges remains in its infancy. This special issue offers a unique opportunity to cross-fertilize disciplines—integrating sustainability transitions, public policy, and organizational strategy with project management. It aims to transform project management from an administrative commodity into a core engine for addressing the world's most pressing crises.

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