Shobha Ramalingam, NICMAR

Stewart Clegg, University of Sydney

Efrosyni Konstantinou, UCL

Suhair Alkilani, University of Technology Sydney

Shankar Sankaran, University of Technology Sydney

This special issue seeks research on projects and programs designed to address societal and humanitarian challenges, including conflicts, climate change, displacement, and technological disruption. The call welcomes novel methodologies such as participatory research, narrative approaches, and complexity theory alongside theoretical frameworks that examine how projects create value for stakeholders in crisis situations.

Submissions should present theoretically grounded empirical case studies demonstrating original contributions to project studies with practical relevance. Success is measured by purpose and stakeholder value rather than traditional cost metrics, with management methods locally situated and contextually adapted to specific communities and issues.

Appel publié par International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Projects addressing societal and humanitarian concerns
• Participatory action research methods
• Storytelling and narrative research
• Causal layered analysis
• Sustainable practices in projects
• Social network methods and coopetition
• Realist social theory and social policy
• Socio-cognitive theory
• Paradox theory
• Power and practice-based approaches
• Development projects
• Sociotechnical transition theories
• Program evaluation and social justice
• Complexity and systems theory
• Practice theory and inclusive society

Timeline

• December 15, 2025: Submissions open
• October 31, 2026: Submissions close

This special issue examines how data science reshapes project, programme, and portfolio management practices. Rather than focusing on technical algorithmic details, it seeks to understand how managers can translate data and algorithmic insights into better decisions, governance, and value creation across the project lifecycle. The collection emphasizes managerial transformation rather than technology as an add-on.

Contributions should address how data-driven practices improve decision quality and accountability, how governance mechanisms adapt to data-intensive work, and how manager and team competencies evolve. The special issue particularly welcomes research on adoption conditions, implementation challenges, and safeguards for ethical use, bias mitigation, and transparency in decision-making.

Submissions should prioritize actionable insights for practitioners through conceptual frameworks, empirical case studies, and practical artifacts such as decision frameworks, governance templates, and maturity models. Cross-sector studies demonstrating tangible managerial outcomes and connections to organizational strategy and broader societal value are especially encouraged.

Appel publié par International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Data-driven decision-making in project environments: Exploring how data science enhances or transforms decision processes across the project lifecycle, including planning, monitoring, and risk management emphasizing chances, challenges and risk.
• Integration of data science methodologies into project management practices: Studies applying or adapting methods such as machine learning, data mining, or predictive analytics to project-specific contexts.
• Data science and project governance, ethics, and accountability: Examining the implications of algorithmic decision-making, data privacy, and ethical use of data in managing projects.
• The evolving role of the project manager in data-rich contexts: Investigating new competencies, skills, and leadership styles required for managing data-intensive or AI-augmented projects. Discussing the relationship between project managers and data science experts in project management.
• Real-time data, dashboards and analytics for project monitoring and control: Contributions on the design and limits, use and evaluation of real-time performance tracking and visualisation tools in project management.
• Data ecosystems and infrastructure in large-scale or complex projects: Studies addressing the architecture, integration, and governance of data sources across distributed project networks.
• Cross-disciplinary applications of data science in projects: Interdisciplinary work linking project management with fields such as operations research, information systems, computational social science, or engineering.
• AI, big data and automation in project scheduling, forecasting, and resource allocation: Empirical or conceptual work on how intelligent systems are used to optimize project efficiency and adaptability.
• Data-enabled project evaluation, benefits realisation, and impact assessment: Using data science to better measure and predict the value, outcomes, and sustainability of projects, including alignment with SDGs.
• Theoretical and conceptual contributions linking data science and project studies: Frameworks and models that critically examine the intersection of data science and project management as evolving disciplines.
• AI-empowered stakeholder engagement in large-scale or complex projects: Leveraging AI to enhance stakeholder analysis, communication, and collaboration in complex projects, optimizing engagement strategies and improving project outcomes through predictive insights and automated interaction tools.

Timeline

• January 4, 2026: Opening date for manuscripts submissions
• July 31, 2026: Closing date for abstract submission
• January 31, 2027: Closing date for manuscripts submission

Projectification—the embedding of project logic across organizations, public sectors, and society—has fundamentally transformed how work is organized. While this shift has been widely documented, scholarly attention has predominantly focused on systemic and organizational dimensions, often overlooking the human experience. This special issue seeks to redress this imbalance by centering individuals and their experiences within projectification processes.

The issue invites interdisciplinary contributions exploring how people exercise agency, construct identity, and create value within projectified contexts. It addresses researchers and practitioners interested in understanding the lived experiences of those who shape, participate in, or are affected by projectification across educational, occupational, cultural, and geographical contexts.

Appel publié par International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• How do individuals implement and negotiate their agency in the context of increasing projectification by navigating between structure, temporality, and autonomy?
• How do individuals build and maintain their identities amid the fluidity and temporality of projectified work in a complex social environment?
• How do people co-create and redefine value through their participation in - and contribution to - the ongoing projectification in our society?
• What role do projects play in the development of people, from childhood to old age? Is there any difference between personal and occupational development?
• How do different levels of education and educational opportunities affect people's participation in projects and projectification?
• What expectations, aspirations, and objectives do individuals pursue through their involvement in projects, project management, and projectification?
• What impact (positive and/or negative) does engagement in projects - as temporary endeavors - have on the people involved?
• Which prerequisites have to be created by organizations, government, or society so that people engage in projects and turn them into success stories?
• How much projectification can people tolerate, or is there a point at which over-projectification is reached and de-projectification starts?
• How do cultural factors affect people's involvement in projects and projectification?
• What are the main differences in projectification across the globe, and how does it influence individuals involved or eager to enter the project world?
• To what extent is the use of professional project management beneficial or detrimental to the implementation of projects in the different areas of society?

Timeline

• January 15, 2026: Opening date for manuscript submissions
• November 15, 2026: Closing date for manuscript submissions