Business Forum Membership Program
Overview
The Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy’s (CSDD) Business Forum is a membership organization focused on providing corporate leaders with access to cutting edge social science research about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The goal is to provide business leaders with insights that they can translate to their own diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The forum will also provide a space for corporate leaders to exchange ideas and share information about their experiences leading DEI initiatives within their organizations.
Program Structure
The Business Forum consists of five main aspects:
- Thematic webinars hosted four times a year focused on key issues related to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within The webinars will feature academic researchers discussing how their work can translate to business settings and promote change around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- An annual conference (1.5 days) for Business Forum members. The conference will feature presentations on key diversity, equity, and inclusion themes from academic It will also feature panels that put academic researchers in dialogue with DEI professionals. Forum members will have the opportunity to shape the content of the annual conference and receive four free registrations.
- Early access to case study materials and research reports published by the
- Breaking-news webinars focused on helping members craft responses to sudden developments in the DEI landscape—e.g., the #StopAAPIHate Movement and the Georgia voter suppression
- Participation in the CSDD’s benchmark survey panel for DEI
Benefits to Members
The Business Forum will give members early access to discoveries in the social sciences that will have the potential to impact how they promote DEI through their people operations, product development, branding, and corporate social responsibility programs. It will also facilitate the ability of business leaders to develop rosters of experts on issues like implicit bias mitigation, gender equity, LGBTQ+ inclusion, intersectionality, and systemic racism. In short, members will have a front row seat to the discovery of the next hot concepts and strategies in the DEI landscape. Finally, the Business Forum will create a distinct network of professionals who can share insights from their own attempts to mobilize translational research to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within their organizations. Participation in the Forum will provide members with a safe space to share ideas and strategies in an off-the-record setting that is unavailable through public professional conferences on DEI.
Please send all inquiries to CSDD@northwestern.edu.