BRITISH ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT HYBRID ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2026 - 2027 Invitation to Tender

The British Academy of Management would like to invite tenders from academic institutions to host the 2026 (7^th – 11^th September) or 2027 (6^th –10^th September) Annual Conferences.

The Annual Conference is central to the mission of the British Academy of Management and to our members who attend. In 2023 over 900 delegates attended in person - with 250 more joining online from over 53 different countries - to participate in a range of workshops, keynotes, panel sessions, and paper presentations arranged into 30 Tracks. The Gala Dinner with musical entertainment in the magnificent surrounds of the Grand Hotel in Brighton was enjoyed by 500 delegates.

The Conference offers opportunities to share ideas, network, present current research and discuss policy initiatives. The Conference is preceded by a one-day Doctoral Symposium with dinner, which is a core part of the overall event. It typically attracts 150 – 200 doctoral students from 40 countries.

The number of venues expressing an interest in hosting the BAM Annual Conference has increased with the continued success of the series. To ensure fairness and transparency BAM has a formal tendering process. This process is overseen by the Chair of BAM, the CEO and the Co Vice-Chairs for Academic Affairs of Conference & Capacity Building, who will provide academic oversight and support to the conference organising committee.

BAM2026 will be the 40^th anniversary Conference. For this edition we especially welcome bids from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Any interested institutions or venues should submit an initial expression of interest by 15^th February 2024, followed by the detailed proposal followed by a detailed proposal by 19^th March 2024. The detailed proposal must include the following information: 

• An outline of the venue for the Doctoral Symposium and Doctoral Symposium Dinner.
• An outline of the venue for the main conference.
• An outline of a suitable venue for the Conference Gala Dinner
• Agreement that the dates of the Conference are ultimately set by BAM. The Doctoral Symposium is traditionally held on the day before the Conference.
• An indication of who would be the host institution’s Conference Chair (to work alongside the BAM Co Vice-Chairs for Academic Affairs of Conference & Capacity Building) and Conference Committee members. The Conference Committee typically consists of: a chair for Sponsorships, chair for Publicity, chair for Local Arrangements, chair in charge of local volunteer recruitment (typically 60-90 volunteers), and includes a dedicated conference or events officer from the host institution.
• An outline of costs both for holding the Conference (including room hire, catering and equipment costs) and Doctoral Symposium (catering costs only). As part of the support for doctoral students the host institution is expected to provide rooms and AV for the Doctoral Symposium free of charge.
• An outline of the range of local accommodation (including student accommodation) that is available, and its price range.
• Describe accessibility within and around the venue (including any restrictions for wheelchair access, and public transport services).
• An indication of possible themes and their rationales for the Conference.
• An outline of any possible ‘fringe’ sessions.
• An outline of any contributions to be made from the institution (financial or in kind).
• An outline of possible sponsorship.
• An outline of a risk management plan.
• Budget template. Please consider that the Conference is one of the main streams of income for BAM and has to be profitable. In addition to recouping the direct and indirect costs we look for a surplus of at least 20% to help support our other activities.
• Existing and likely future support of BAM from BAM members at the institution.
• BAM is committed to sustainability in all its activities and so we are interested in hearing how a host university can help us improve sustainability within the conference.  
• Equality, Diversity, Inclusivity and Respect (EDIR) are core values for BAM and we are working to implement EDIR best practice across our portfolio of activities, including the BAM Conference.

Process

After an initial shortlisting process one or more institutions or venues will be visited and viewed by BAM’s core conference team.BAM will then reach a final decision.

Please note that it is possible for the response to the tender process to come from either an academic institution or a venue (e.g. a large conference hotel or a conference centre). In the case of a venue, we would only expect limited information about the chair or possible themes. However, as the conference is academic in nature we would expect the venue to eventually run the event jointly with a suitable local university in order to ensure academic focus and content. It may be possible for BAM to assist in setting up this relationship if the venue is felt to be appropriate.

For more information about hosting a BAM Conference, please contact the BAM Office by emailing Lewis Johnson at [email protected] and Justina Senkus [email protected]. who would be very happy to have an initial, informal chat.

Further Information

Requirements of the Venue

The main Conference (including the virtual day) and Doctoral Symposium are held over five days, usually during the first full week in September.

Typically the Conference opens with the virtual day, followed by the Doctoral Symposium (in-person) and 2.5 days of the in-person element of the Conference. The organising team would need to have access to the venue from 7:00 am until 09:30 pm each day.

For the Doctoral Symposium the required facilities are:

• • Auditorium for up to 200 delegates (welcome address/plenary)
  • 8-10 seminar rooms (capacity between 40 to 60 delegates per room)
  • 25-30 meeting rooms (capacity for 4+ delegates per room)
  • 4-5 additional classrooms for contingency
  • Focal open plan area for poster presentations, which usually also serves as the common space for coffee breaks, lunch and delegate registration
  • Doctoral Symposium dinner venue (to seat up to 300 approximately)

BAM Conference

Virtual element

The virtual element of the Conference typically consists of online paper presentations, a keynote panel and other online sessions, Professional Development Workshops (PDWs) and networking activities. The virtual platform and livestream of plenaries is arranged by BAM.

The in-person element includes Paper Presentations, Professional Development Workshops (PDWs), Grand Opening plenary session, Panel sessions, Track symposia and workshops, the BAM Awards Ceremony, SIG and Network activities, and networking cafes, plus various committee and board meetings.

For the in-person element of the conference, the following facilities are required:

• • Auditorium/s for 500+ delegates and additional lecture theatre for overspill
  • 45- 50 lecture theatres/ seminar rooms for PDWs and paper presentation sessions (capacity between 25-50 delegates per room for paper sessions)
  • Combined exhibition and catering area (20-25 table-top stands)
  • Conference Gala Dinner venue (to seat over 300)
  • Technical infrastructure including streaming to facilitate hybrid sessions

Whether these are all provided by the host institution needs to be determined.

All standards of accommodation need to be considered, including a variety of hotels and student accommodation as close to the Conference venue as possible.

Hosting this major intellectual event provides a real opportunity for the host institution to engage with the local business and management community as well as the opportunity to showcase the School.

It should be noted that BAM works closely with the host institution in the planning and organisation of the event. However, BAM retains the right to make final decisions based on its overall direction, delegate expectations and the management function of the event.

Contracts

It is important that a contract is raised and signed between the host institution and BAM, which outlines responsibility, underwriting agreement and liabilities i.e. cancellation charges relating to minimum numbers for delegates and accommodation. This should be put in place and signed as early as possible once key parameters for the event are known.