Call for Applicants

We welcome applications from doctoral candidates (and early career researchers up to 2 years after defending their doctorate) enrolled in Baltic universities (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) for a PhD in any discipline related to the social sciences (broadly understood. If you have a doubt, ask us) for a 2-day Workshop with the goal of discussing your methodological approach, get feedback from peers and senior scholars and network with other universities.

The workshop will consist of:

1) presentation by the invited students followed by feedback on individual research plan (day 1 and 2)

2) informal discussion: research careers beyond academia, opportunities in the private and non profit sector for PhD holders (day 1, evening)

3) training session: does the perfect abstract exist? How to prepare a competitive abstract for a conference or a book chapter (day 2, morning)

The project is part of the Baltic Doctoral Support Training (see below a description of the project) funded by the European Commission under the 7^th Framework Programme.

Please send an abstract (max 300 words) and a short bio with contact details to fmenga@tlu.ee by the 15^th of January 2015. Abstracts should briefly outline the theme of the ongoing research project and its methodology and data collection methods.

Accommodation will be provided and travel (by bus or train) will be reimbursed for selected participants.

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The Baltic Doctoral Support Training: A Series of Training Workshops for Doctoral Students from the Baltic Republics

A joint project by:

Tallinn University, Institute of Political Science

University of Latvia, Faculty of Economics

Overview of the project

The goal of the BDST is to provide complementary training opportunities for doctoral students from Baltic-based universities. We are not seeking to replace the training doctoral students receive at their home institution but to integrate them with expertise that might not be available everywhere, while providing an opportunity to present one's research to peers and senior scholars, receive feedback, and broaden their academic and professional network.

There are four main foci that we intend to engage with:

·         Methodology: discuss and compare methodological approaches to provide a better understanding on how they can be combined to come up with a methodology that is tailored for one's project

·         Presentation (oral and written): to provide guidance on how to structure the presentation of research results to doctoral students who intend to publish their results in good English-language journals or want to present at conferences where English is the medium of communication

·         Career paths: help doctoral students to discover career possibilities beyond academia. How to use your academic skills to compete in cognate or faraway sectors

·         Research design and project writing: how to improve your research and project design skills so to prepare a competitive post-doctoral proposal or to apply for a national/international grant

Location

The BDST is based on an agreement between three Baltic universities. A first workshop has been held at Tallinn University in October 2014. The next one is planned for February 2015 in Riga, and a third one will take place in Fall 2015.

Get involved/apply

Participation is free of charge and the project will cover accommodation, food and transport (by bus) to the workshop venue. Our goal is to create an international and interactive community so that commitment to join two or more events is encouraged. We will, however, accept also applications of students for a single event.

Pilot phase

The pilot phase will consist of two Doctoral Colloquiums to take place in different locations and with different topics. We plan to continue this through at least 2016 but we will make a final decision after the second workshop. Each event will feature at least 4 experts (two of which will be senior scholars and two from outside academia or with experience from outside academia) so to provide different views on career paths.

Participants will be welcomed to attend both events, and will also be encouraged to commit to contribute to future ones so to further develop the network. 15 participants will be admitted to each event. The primary target is on students at different stages of their doctorate from the social, economic sciences and humanities. However, anyone from cognate or related disciplines can apply if their research fits within the broader theme of the Colloquium.

Financial conditions

Food and accommodation will be provided for all participants.

Travel expenses will be covered for those travelling within the region by bus.