It was an amazing IPSERA conference. I was absolutely dreading the conference. I had months of sleepless nights thinking the technology would let us down. I had images of queues of people and a full inbox of demands for refunds. But, if anything, the opposite happened. The technology was great, the platform worked really well and my inbox has been full of messages of positivity and support.   

There are so many highlights from this conference and I’d like to just mention a few. The panels Wendy organised, and seemed to mostly host as well, were incredibly insightful.  Hakan Karaosman’s fashion panel with some of the top names in fashion and in fashion research was incredible, the Dean’s panel and the two sustainability panels were definitely highlights for me.

I wish I could have cloned myself as there were so many things I wanted to attend but couldn’t. I’ve heard great things about all the panels, including the Meet the Editors Panel, Public Procurement Panel, Ethics and Sustainability Panel and Teaching Sustainability Panel, Sining Panel and the Re/Near/Offshoring Panel; and the incredible workshops including the Meta-Analysis Workshop, Sourcing Strategies and Circular Economy Workshop, Sourcing Services and Service Supply Chains Workshop, Healthcare Purchasing and Supply Management Workshop, Experimental Design Workshop,  so congratulations to everyone involved and in particular to Jenny Backstrand and Arni Hallderson who also seemed to be hosting quite a few of these workshops!

Two highlights for me were getting to see everyone and to reminisce about the 30 years of IPSERA and marvel at our friends in the IPSERA’s Got Talent event and also Robert Suurmond and Steve Kelly’s Everything IPSERA Quiz.  I am being incredibly biased when I say I’ve never seen social occasions work too well on zoom but I think we cracked it and the IPSERA spirit really shone through.

The standard of the research presentation I attended was also so high. I was in four papers from Masters students, Fanny Chen at Erasmus University, Rotterdam; and Benjamin, Shantal, Dolf and Polien, Masters students of Klass Stek at Twente, Cassia Yamanaka who is working with Leo Marques at Coppead and Feigao Huang, Ryan Lile and Sarha Nur, working with Andrea Sordi and Wendy Tate.  The standard of their work was amazing given that they are only just starting this rigorous academic journey. We often think of our PhDs being our youngest, or at least earliest IPSERA group but the Masters really seem to be picking up the pace too. So definitely a community to watch out for in the future.

I’d also like to say a huge thank you to Wendy Tate.  For those of you who know Wendy, you will know that she is nothing short of a superwoman.  Not only has she been organising two conferences, the physical conference in Knoxville and the online conference, but also managing, organising and chairing so many panels and workshops, and having unceasing energy throughout the conference.  Wendy, the whole of IPSERA stands up and applauds you for the truly amazing job you have done. 

I’d also like to thank Ryan Lile for being such a support to Wendy and for organising and directing all the stage management.  You were such a great part of the organising team. And, I’d like to thank all our stage managers, who kept the whole conference running, who made sure everyone could get into the sessions, were able to present and could ask questions.  You were the backbone of the conference and our heartfelt thanks go out to you all.

 Ryan Lile – Director of Stage Managers

Annie Dohmen

Avril Sun

Favour Mba

Faygao Huang

Georgios Vousinas

Guido Orzes

Iryna Maliasina

Jade Chu

Jan Spreitzenbarth

Junwoo Cha

Mark Soleski

Thu Trang Hoang

I’d also like to say thank to the amazing Executive Committee and in particular, Fred Vos, Leo Marques, Jenny Backstrand and Hakan Karaosman who took on the mammoth task of getting to grips with the platform, organising training, taking over trouble shooting, constantly updating and communicating with the community and ensuring the smooth running of the conference.  You were absolutely amazing and we can’t thank you enough. 

I’d also like to give a special thanks to the IPSERA’s Got Talent Team: Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen, Hakan Karaosman, Helen Walker and Olly Kennedy. And also to the Everything IPSERA Quiz organisers and masters Robert Suurmond and Steve Kelly.  

And a big thank you to the rest of the Executive Committee for all they were doing behind the scenes of the conference including Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen, Antonella Morretto, George Zsidisin, Marika Tuomela-Pyykkönen, Nadine Kiratli, Niels Uenk And Steve Kelly, and who have worked almost non-stop over the past year to keep our community going.

A huge thank you also goes to our wonderful sponsors: Nevi, the top purchasing and supply network in the Netherlands; and our amazing Supply Chain Finance Community. The support you gave us really provided us with so much comfort and made sure that we could make financial decisions that had a major positive impact on our community.  Nevi, for example, sponsored all the Dutch PhDs so they could attend the IPSERA conference for free. Thank you so much!

My final and biggest thank you as always, goes to our incredible IPSERA community. Our amazing panelists and attendees, workshop hosts and participant and session chairs and presenters. You make this conference every year. Without your support, your research, your incredible presentations and the amount of energy and fun you bring, this would just be another run-of-the-mill conference.  You have make it into something unique and special and I am so proud and humbled to be part of this incredible, insightful, wise and fun community.

We will hopefully see you all next year for IPSERA in Jönköping, to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of Sweden’s beautiful lake district!

Donna Marshall

IPSERA President