The 31th NISPAcee Annual Conference

Conference 2023 Beograd, Serbia, May 25-27, 2023

Excellent conference. I really enjoyed the papers, speakers, schedule and location and great staff!

D.B., United States, 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2019, Prague

...relating to public administration and policy. Good opportunities for networking.

N.D., Georgia, 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2019, Prague

Excellent participants, argument-driven discussions, impartial and supportive Chairs in the Working Group.

D.G., Republic of North Macedonia, 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2019, Prague

...to detail and I really enjoyed the supportive and encouraging atmosphere there. Thank you!

R.B., Lithuania, 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2019, Prague

...both in terms of academic quality and logistics, and also social events. It was a true joy.

E.Z., Bulgaria, 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2019, Prague

...The special programmes were really excellent and we took home many varied experiences.

P.N., Hungary, 27th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2019, Prague

...Sessions were interesting, scholars were engaging and all the social events were amazing!

B.K., Kazakhstan, 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2018, Iasi

Excellent organization, excellent food. Compliments to the organizers, they did a wonderful job!

V.J., Netherlands, 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2018, Iasi

...I must say that the PhD pre-conference seminar was the most useful seminar of my life. Very well...

K.V., Czech Republic, 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2018, Iasi

... I would even argue that they are the very best - both in terms of scientific content and also entertainment…

P.W., Denmark, 26th NISPAcee Annual Conference 2018, Iasi

An opportunity to learn from other researchers and other countries' experiences on certain topics.

G.A.C., Hungary, 25th Conference 2017, Kazan

Very well organised, excellent programme and fruitful discussions.

M.M.S., Slovakia, 25th Conference 2017, Kazan

The NISPAcee conference remains a very interesting conference.

M.D.V., Netherlands, 25th Conference 2017, Kazan

Thank you for the opportunity to be there, and for the work of the organisers.

D.Z., Hungary, 24th Conference 2016, Zagreb

Well organized, as always. Excellent conference topic and paper selection.

M.S., Serbia, 23rd Conference 2015, Georgia

Perfect conference. Well organised. Very informative.

M.deV., Netherlands, 22nd Conference 2014, Hungary

Excellent conference. Congratulations!

S. C., United States, 20th Conference 2012, Republic of Macedonia

Thanks for organising the pre-conference activity. I benefited significantly!

R. U., Uzbekistan, 19th Conference, Varna 2011

Each information I got, was received perfectly in time!

L. S., Latvia, 21st Conference 2013, Serbia

The Conference was very academically fruitful!

M. K., Republic of Macedonia, 20th Conference 2012, Republic of Macedonia

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PhD Pre-conference Seminar
How to improve the quality of your research paper
 
Chairs

  • Michiel S. de Vries, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, m.devries@fm.ru.nl
He holds the chair in Public Administration at the Radboud University of Nijmegen and is visiting professor at the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. He is president of IASIA, full member of the Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government of the Council of Europe and member of the editorial board of numerous journals on Public Administration. His research concentrates on local government, public sector reform, policy evaluation, policy change and comparative public administration.

  • Iwona Sobis, School of Public Administration, Gothenburg University, Sweden, iwona.sobis@spa.gu.se
Her research over the period 1995-2010 can be summarised as a collection of in-depth case studies on Western assistance to Central and Eastern Europe during the transition from socialism to a market economy, seen from the perspective of recipients, foreign advisors, donor organisations and responsible politicians. Her later empirical research concerns: public sector reforms with a special focus on care for the elderly, performance management, policy evaluation, job satisfaction, and free movement of EU citizens. She lectures on leadership, management, and governance in public administration.

 
Report

The PhD Pre-conference Seminar, titled "How to Improve the Quality of Your Research Paper?" took place in Belgrade on May 24th, 2023. The seminar was conducted by two chairs, Michiel de Vries from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Iwona Sobis from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Four PhD students with papers or broader abstracts of planned papers, as well as some free listeners, participated in the event.


The seminar was divided into three sessions. The first session focused on the role of introductions and conclusions in papers, the second session explored the significance of the methodological chapter and its presentation, and the third session delved into the role of theory, its presentation in research, and various methods of its application. Each session began with a brief lecture by Michiel de Vries on the aforementioned topics. Following the lectures, the PhD students actively worked on improving their own papers based on the recommendations provided. The revised versions of the papers or abstracts were then reviewed and discussed by both chairs, as well as with the PhD students and the free listeners.


Overall, the interactive nature of the three sessions provided valuable opportunities for the PhD students. They not only received information, comments, and advice from the chairs on how to enhance specific aspects of their articles and how to organise their papers to meet the international publication standards, but also encouraged self-criticism in their writing, fostering further improvements. The main objective of the pre-conference was to enhance the structure of PhD theses by analysing the differences between papers, including empirical and theoretical research, and highlighting how these distinctions should be reflected in the theses. Furthermore, the discussions during the seminar facilitated conversations on the importance of empirical research in the everyday practice of public administration.

Based on our impressions from the pre-conference, it was evident that the PhD students highly appreciated the open discussions, constructive criticism, pragmatic solutions, as well as the chairs' ability to identify weaknesses and strengths in the texts.