OHIO welcomes Marie Curie Research Fellow Tatiana Somià

This fall, Ohio University and the Center for Entrepreneurship welcomed Tatiana Somià, Ph.D., a Marie Skłodowska-Curie IF Global Research Fellow. 

The fellowship is named after Marie Curie, a Polish-born, naturalized-French physicist and chemist. The Marie Curie Global Fellowships (or Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions/MSCAs) are a set of major research fellowships created by the European Union and European Commission which aim to support research and foster career development of researchers at all career stages. The grant provides significant funding at 250,000+ euros and promotes interdisciplinary research and international collaborations, supporting scientists from not only within Europe but across the globe.

“Marie Curie Fellowships are highly prestigious European Union grants that allow the recipient significant focused time for their post-doctoral study and professional development. We are thrilled to host Tatiana here at Ohio University for two years to help expand the Center for Entrepreneurship's research team,” said Dr. Luke Pittaway, O’Bleness, professor of entrepreneurship at Ohio University’s College of Business.

Somià’s research project, WOentrecompMEN, explores the validity of the Entrepreneurship Competence (EntreComp) Framework, which the European Union created to foster the development of entrepreneurial competencies. Somià is comparing EntreComp with American frameworks and studying the specific competencies of American and Italian entrepreneurs. The research will have a special focus on entrepreneurial competencies of women and gender studies in entrepreneurship education.

“I chose OHIO thanks to Dr. Luke Pittaway, my supervisor in this project. He is an established academic in the entrepreneurship education field with expertise in entrepreneurial behavior. He was also awarded USASBE’s Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year. This will allow me to significantly develop my teaching and supervisory skills,” Somià said. “I am hosted by the Department of Management, and I have access to the university’s infrastructures and facilities, such as the College of Business, the CoLab, the library and other facilities. Dr. Pittaway made workspace for me in the CoLab to further the entrepreneurship educational aspects of my project.”

She will spend the first two years conducting research at OHIO, and a final third year in Italy sponsored through the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (or unibz). Unibz was ranked among the best 20 small universities worldwide in 2019 World’s Best Small Universities Ranking. 

“I chose to conduct the first part of my research in the U.S. because North America stands as the role model for high-growth enterprises and entrepreneurship education. Compared with other countries, the United States has the longest history in entrepreneurship education and has friendly conditions for entrepreneurship,” Somià explained. 

She is eager explore the influence of the culture, and “entrepreneurs who create a disproportionate change in their environment, who innovate and push society forward.” 

Somiá has particular interest in gender studies within entrepreneurship education.

“The work that Tatiana is conducting is significant,” Pittaway said. “There is a lot of effort within entrepreneurship education to identify the key entrepreneurial competencies that might best inform program and course designs. The competencies required, though, do differ between forms of entrepreneurship, cultural contexts, and types of people, and there is debate about the overall objectives of practice. Her work on gender and culture will help inform this ongoing conversation.”

On first impressions of the Athens campus, Somià remarked, “I was very surprised by the beautiful landscape. Everyone is really so friendly, and I am feeling at home here.”