We congratulate and celebrate Dr. Jonas Friedrich and Professor Chris Steyaert for receiving the EBS University Best Paper Award 2025 on Innovation, Corporate Entrepreneurship & Transformation. Their article, “Emancipatory Entrepreneuring as Disidentification: A Queer-Feminist View of Becoming a Democratic Cooperative”, published in Human Relations, was recognized for its distinctive theoretical contribution and its practical relevance for organizational transformation.

The paper builds on the concept of disidentification as a subtle, in-between process through which organizations can unlearn entrenched, paternalistic, and top-down habits, initially developed by the queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz. Rather than relying on confrontation or disruptive rupture, the authors show how change can emerge through everyday acts of subversion and re-weaving more inclusive, empowering, and democratic ways of organizing. Their work bridges critical theory with organizational practice and offers new perspectives on how democratic transformation can take shape within enterprises.

The jury praised the paper’s ability to make complex theoretical ideas tangible and relevant for practice. The authors expressed their gratitude to EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht and the jury for recognizing critical research that resonates across academic and organizational worlds.

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