Term: May 18, 2016 and May
20, 2016
Objective:
On May 18, 2016, the day
before the NISPAcee conference begins, a PhD seminar will take place in the
venue where the NISPAcee conference also takes place, enabling PhD students to
present a paper and have these papers and presentations discussed in more
detail concerning structure and content than sessions in the conference
themselves allow. Senior researchers will participate as facilitators for the
discussions. The goal of the seminar is to discuss with the students ways in
which to improve their presentations and their papers.
On May 20, 2016 during the
conference, a time-slot will be allocated to discuss topics related to writing
a dissertation. This part of the seminar will discuss the preparation of a
dissertation, formulating a relevant research question, putting the research
question within a theoretical framework and conducting the necessary research
in a valid and reliable way in order to answer the research question. It is not
so much about writing everything down, but much more about a substantial
discussion about what it needs to have the coherent structure of a dissertation
and how to fill the gaps and what to do in order to avoid that the research
plans fail. This part of the seminar is also open for discussing process-related
issues and other pressing issues the PhD students themselves come forward with. Beforehand, PhD Students can put forward
issues they would like to have discussed in this regard.
Method:
During the first part of
this seminar, PhD students will receive information and advice from the Chairs
and discuss how to improve the presentation of a paper and how to organise
papers in such a way that these papers conform to the standards required to have
them published. Hence, five sessions will be organised, during which PhD
students learn how to improve their presentations and papers within a trusted
environment. One of these sessions focuses on the structure of presentations;
the second on the structure of the introduction and conclusion of papers; the
third on the theoretical section; the fourth on the methods section and the
last one on the section in which the outcomes are presented.
The second part of the
seminar addresses topics related to writing a dissertation. This can involve
issues related to substance as well as the writing process. In this part of the
seminar PhD students present their research plans and/or listen to other PhD
students presenting their research plans, discuss these amongst themselves in a
closed and trusted environment and will receive advice from the Chairs.
Depending on the number of participants, one or more time-slots will be
reserved for this part of the seminar.
Application procedure and deadlines:
Applicants should complete
an online application form (in English), include an abstract of a paper
(maximum two pages - 3600 characters) and attach the actual CV file (maximum
2MB).
Selection conditions:
1. Being a PhD-student from the NISPAcee region.
2. Having
a paper in the field of Public Administration the participant is willing to
present and discuss or a draft of a research plan for a dissertation.
3. Interest in participating in the entire seminar.
4. Interest in taking a part in discussions about the papers
and research plans of others.
5. Interest in reading at least one other paper or draft
research plan beforehand.
Paper criteria:
All kinds of papers are
accepted as long as they have an empirical component, be it a case study or a
comparative study, and irrespective of whether it is a draft or a final
version.
PhD students who submitted a
paper proposal for other conference WGs/panels can also apply.
The selection results will
be available by the end of November, 2015.
Full papers should be
submitted by April 10, 2016.
Fees:
All accepted students should
register online for the conference and pay the relevant conference fees. There
will be special reduced fees for PhD students with a paper presentation. Registered students can participate in other
conference activities afterwards.
Online registration for the
conference will be open in December 2015:
http://www.nispa.org/conference2016