ICA Committee on Co-operative Research
November 1998
The ICA Committee on Co-operative Research is a specialized committee of the International Co-operative Alliance. The Research Officers Group of the ICA was formed in 1957. A reflection of the widening aspirations of the Committee was in its change of name at the end of the 1970s to Research, Planning and Development. The group has tended to lean upon the support of the consumer co-operative movements, especially in Western and Northern Europe, but its membership is worldwide and it has increasingly tried to tackle matters which would be of interest and value to all types of co-operatives.
The main aims of the Committee are to strengthen activities, and to make the work of researchers more visible, particularly to ordinary managers and co-operators. The members of the Committee form a network of individual researchers from 20 countries in Europe, Asia and North America.
Questions concerning education, social audit, co-op principles, and the emergence of new wave agricultural co-operatives and the financial sector have all been reviewed both from a practical and theoretical stance. The Committee is a bridge between academic research and the business world.
The major activity each year is an International Research Conference. This usually coincides with ICA global meetings. The 1995 Conference was held in Manchester to coincide with the ICA's Centennial Congress. In 1996 the Committee held two conferences : in Tartu (Estonia) on Co-operative Innovation and Change and in Budapest (Hungary) on Co-operatives and Labour Markets. The topic of the 1997 Conference was Co-operative Advantage in the Civil Economy, and that of the 1998 Values and Adding Value in a Global Context. In October 1998 the Committee will be helding special conference on Women, Co-operatives and Entrepreneurship in Paris. Resumés of the papers from each Conference are published in Special Issues of the Review of International Co-operation.
ICA is an independent non-governmental association which unites, represents and serves co-operatives worldwide. Founded in 1895, it now has 232 national members in 93 countries, plus four international members.
Chairman: Mr. Roger Spear
Chairman
Co-operatives
Research Unit
Open University,
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
United Kingdom
Tel: (44-1908)
653 054/653 749
Fax: (44-1908)
652 175
E-mail: R.G.Spear@open.ac.uk
Vice-Chairpersons :
Dr Lou Hammond
Ketilson
University of
Saskatchewan
Centre for Study
of Co-operatives
Saskatoon, Canada
S7N OWO
Tel: (1-306)
966 8509
Fax: (1-306)
966 8517
E-mail: hammondketil@sask.usask.ca
Dr Akira Kurimoto
JCCU, 4-2-13
Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku
TOKYO, Japan
Tel : (81 3)
34 97 91 93
fax : (81 3)
34 97 07 22
E-mail: kokusai@jccu.co-op.or.jp
Dr Yohanan Stryjan
Stockholm University
Södertorns högskola
Box 4101
141 04 HUDDINGE
Tel: (46 8) 5858 8000
Fax: (46 8) 5858 8010
E-mail : yohanan.stryjan@sh.se
Web Pages:
English http://www.coop.org/en/research.html
French http://www.coop.org/fr/researchF.html
Spanish http://www.coop.org/es/researchS.html
German http://www.coop.org/d/researchG.html