Dr Irina Popova

Dr Irina Popova is a Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship with over a decade of experience in entrepreneurship education, research, and programme leadership (BSc Business management with Entrepreneurship; BSc International Business Management). She holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship from Anglia Ruskin University, where her research examined social venture incubation and the development of social enterprises. Prior to joining The Open University, she was a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Brighton and Anglia Ruskin University, and has also worked within the social enterprise support sector through the Cambridge Social Ventures programme. 

Irina's research focuses on social entrepreneurship, social venture incubation, entrepreneurial learning, and organisational change. Her work has been published in leading journals, including Organization Studies, and she collaborates internationally with researchers across Europe and beyond. 

She is passionate about innovative and inclusive approaches to entrepreneurship education, particularly experiential and team-based learning. Alongside her teaching and research, she supervises doctoral students, serves as an external examiner, and contributes to the development of entrepreneurship education through international networks and collaborations.

Current Projects:

2026-27 Seedcorn Funding - 'Strengthening the Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Bulgaria through Evidence and Capacity Building'

The project aims to establish a foundation for sustained research–practice partnerships around social entrepreneurship in Bulgaria. We will generate original data from the entrepreneurial teams participating in the second Bulgarian accelerator focused on investment readiness for social entrepreneurs. It will provide timely empirical insight into the characteristics, challenges, and support needs of early-stage social ventures in Bulgaria

Student PhD Theses Examined:

Sept 2026 – ‘Innovation as negotiated adaptation: a process-based analysis of Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior’ (internal examiner)

Dec 2024 – ‘The Nigerian Entrepreneurship Ecosystem’ (internal examiner)

Nov 2019 - 'Social enterprise as a catalyst for regeneration and growth in the creative and digital sector in Liverpool’ (external examiner)

Conferences attended:

1-3 July 2026, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Ethno-Discourse Conference 2026

4-6 July 2019, Edinburgh, UK - 35th EGOS Colloquium

11-12 Dec 2018, San Francisco, USA - Living with Monsters?

25-26 Oct 2018, Santiago de Compostella, Spain - 18th European Conference on Digital Government

External Examiner positions:

University of Bedfordshire

Current Teaching:

Production – B361 Responsible entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation

Presentation – B327 Creating Futures: Sustainable Enterprise and Innovation

                                  B209 Entrepreneurship and Innovation

                                  BB851 Entrepreneurship in Context (MBA)

Other:

2022-2025 – CMBE

18 June 2019 - HEA (Higher Education Academy) fellow

April 2020 – Nvivo Expert

3 Sept 2019 - Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt

1 Feb 2019 - PGCert Learning and Teaching (Higher Education), Anglia Ruskin University

19 June 2017 - PhD, Start-up incubation: a rite of passage of entrepreneurs and their social ventures, Anglia Ruskin University

Previous positions:

Jan 2022 – May 2026 Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at University of Brighton, UK

Feb 2021 – Jan 2022 - Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Feb 2020 – Feb 2021 - Lecturer in HROB, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Sept 2017 – Feb 2020 - Research Fellow, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Oct 2016 – June 2017 - Associate Lecturer, Anglia Ruskin University, UK