Dr Maria Granados

Maria is a Senior Lecturer, researcher, knowledge manager and social enterprise consultant with experience in the private, social economy and academic sectors. After having worked as knowledge management practitioner for five years in combination with consultancy work with the private sector and social economy organisations in Colombia, she has started her academic career in UK as a researcher and senior lecturer in social enterprises, social innovation, knowledge management, informal entrepreneurship, marginalised social groups and sustainability.
Education
Maria believes in doing research that matters, which drives forward businesses and societal transformation. Maria labelled herself as a social impact and community-engaged scholar, researching social innovation, social enterprises, community-based enterprises, marginalised entrepreneurship and institutional entrepreneurship. Her work addresses the call towards an innovative entrepreneurial inclusion of marginalised communities, which has led her to focus on the crucial role of institutions in enabling/constraining these groups through power relations and their innovative initiatives to create social change.
She co-leads the Labour Migration Research Group and has projects in Brazil, Colombia and the UK exploring social enterprises, social innovations, community-based enterprises, barefoot and informal entrepreneurship, waste pickers, economically marginalised migrants, and spiral economy. Most recently, she was awarded funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust (2019, £10k) to explore the struggles of waste pickers in the Colombian informal economy to inform policy and practice. As a result of this project, she was able to help waste pickers to present their case to policymakers, media and international audiences. She was asked to act as a technical witness at the State Court of Colombia in March 2021 in the case of waste picker associations against the Colombian government to evidence the struggles of marginalised entrepreneurs (waste pickers) in the waste market.
PhD supervision interest:
Maria welcomes the opportunity to work with PhD students from various backgrounds and disciplines who would like to embark on a PhD. She would especially encourage applicants to use a critical theoretical framework and innovative research approaches.
Current PhD Students:
PhD Supervision Completions: