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Silviya Sve­jen­ova Ve­likova

Professor

Subjects
Organisation Creativity Innovation Leadership Future Identity Qualitative methods

Primary research areas

Collaborative Creativity

How creativity is organized for renewal and legacy through collaboration and temporal work

Inclusive Innovation

How imagination, narratives, visuals, materiality, space, and place are mobilized across boundaries

Shared leadership

How organizations and communities navigate challenges through shared leadership and evolving roles

Advancing cross-boundary collaboration for better futures

My research explores how we can collaborate more effectively to create novel solutions to complex societal challenges. I study how groups, organizations, and communities work across boundaries to imagine and realize better futures.

I draw insights on cross-boundary collaboration in business and social enterprises, creative industries (film, food, architecture, art, craft, music), and cultural institutions (libraries, museums). Across these settings, I examine organizational, temporal, material, and affective dynamics, boundary-spanning executive roles and shared leadership, and the balancing of legacy with renewal. I am also interested in how art and science can be combined to spark dialogue, innovation and positive societal impact.

I advance cross-boundary collaboration not only through research but also through leadership and service of academic associations (Chair of the SCANCOR Board, Program Chair of the Academy of Management’s OMT Division, and Co-coordinator of EGOS Standing Working Group on organizations and place-based communities) and multi-stakeholder initiatives (Textile in Tingbjerg, CBS Think Tank on The Future of Leadership).

Recent research projects

Textile in Tingbjerg

This 2021-2025 multi-stake­hold­er ini­ti­at­ive, funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture, involved cultural institutions, housing initiatives, and KU and CBS researchers and students. It sought to fos­ter­ act­ive cit­izen­ship through arts and crafts among wo­men in Ting­b­jerg. The CBS research related to the project advances the understanding of craft as a nexus for creativity, collaboration, and change.
Project website (in Danish)

Temporality of Food Innovations

This 2019-2022 project with Tor Hernes, Miriam Feuls, Mia Plotnikof, and Iben Stjerne, funded by the Velux Foundation, explored how actors draw on the past while imagining new futures. Focusing on the Danish food sector, we studied how tradition and innovation interplay across companies, events, and public institutions to reshape the meaning and role of food in society.

Institutional Renewal

This project with Eva Boxenbaum, Renate Meyer, and Tammar Zilber explores how long-standing institutions and essential civic infrastructures (e.g., public libraries and museums) renew themselves by balancing continuity and change. It examines institutional renewal from a multimodal perspective, considering verbal, visual, and material forms of communication.

Or­gan­iz­a­tions and Place-based Com­munit­ies

This 2025-2028 inititive (EGOS Standing Working Group 7), coordinated with Christof Brandtner, Laura Dupin, Santi Furnari, Markus Höllerer, and Suntae Kim, aims to advance an important, yet conceptually fragmented area within the research on organizations: how organizations and communities mutually influence each other, and what the organizational mechanisms and forms are that sustain flourishing and resilient communities.
EGOS SWG

Links

Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research - SCANCOR

I am Chair of the Board of SCANCOR, a transnational network of scholars that facilitates inquiry in organizational social science. Its member institutions in Scandinavia and greater Europe support research visits and residencies at Stanford and Harvard Universities, as well as at SCANCOR Scandinavia. SCANCOR also runs a PhD workshop and sponsors conferences.
SCANCOR

Organization and Management Theory Division, AOM

I currently serve as the Program Chair of OMT - The Place to Be, one of the largest divisions of the Academy of Management, with over 4,000 members globally. It advances robust theoretical understanding of organizations, organizing, and management, as well as connects and develops a vibrant community of researchers, educators, and practitioners through various initiatives.
OMT

CBS Think Tank and Report "Leadership for the Future"

As Academic Co-Director of the CBS Leadership Centre, I was involved in bringing researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers together in a think tank on the future of leadership. It identified critical leadership skill sets and organizational drivers (Bruun, Mors, Svejenova & Bom, Eds., 2024), which senior executives can develop through a CBS Executive Foundation program.
Leadership for the Future Report