Call for applications: ESTER Research Design Course 2012, Ghent

ESTER announces its annual Research Design Course for economic and social historians on 17-20 September 2012 at Ghent University (supported by the N.W. Posthumus Institute and the Unger-Van Brero Fund).

Deadline for applications: 1 May 2012

Call for applications

The ESTER network, established in 1991, involves more than 60 universities throughout Europe and offers high-level research training for PhD students in an international context. The network is organized by the N.W. Posthumus Institute, which is the national research school for economic and social history in the Netherlands and Flanders. The Unger-Van Brero Fund, founded on the initiative of economic historian W.S. Unger (1889-1963) and his widow E. Unger-Van Brero, supports and promotes the study of social and economic history. ESTER is the European Graduate School for training in Economic and Social Historical Research, a European collection of universities and research institutes.

Purpose

The Research Design Course (RDC) is a format promoted by ESTER since the late 1990s. The RDC Course assists students in setting up a high quality and well-designed plan for their dissertation under the guidance of a team of leading senior researchers whose task it is to provide comments and lead discussions.

The aim of the course is twofold. First, by writing a paper and receiving comments by experts students will be stimulated to think through issues such as the goals and strategies of social and historical research, the use of concepts and language in historical explanation, the construction of data bases and the use of quantitative methods of analysis, or the construction of the "plot" in a historical inquiry. The aim of this type of reflection on theory and methodology is to investigate the scientific procedures that historians use to reach scientific explanations and to combine all analytical elements into a synthetic and coherent historical account.
Secondly, building upon the reflection outlined above, the RDC assists PhD students in constructing their dissertation plan. Students will be invited to apply the theoretical and methodological knowledge they have obtained to their own dissertation project and reflect upon its feasibility.

With the help of guidelines, students will be asked to write a paper in which a detailed work plan for the dissertation should be given. These guidelines serve as a kind of screen through which students examine their own project, and in particular the way in which they intend to put together their dissertation. The paper has a minimum of 25 pages and should provide the structure in which the remaining research for the dissertation will take place. The papers will be scrutinized and examined during the course by junior and senior scholars together.

In this way the RDC course offers students help in sharpening and refining their research questions, in strengthening the focus of their research, in increasing the consistency of their overall dissertation plan, in making explicit the various theoretical and methodological choices that have to be made in the course of the project, and in improving the composition of the dissertation. The RDC course thereby aims at a better awareness of research choices that need to be made.

Description and organization of the RDC course

The RDC course consists of a 4-day workshop. Prior to the workshop students will be asked to prepare some extensive reading material and they will be asked to write a paper (25 pages) according to a set of guidelines. Work during the workshop consists of discussions of student papers. Each paper will be examined in separate one-hour sessions. Each session will begin with comments prepared by one of the participating students, followed by comments by one of the instructors, after which a general discussion among all participants will take place.

All papers must be circulated in advance; students need to read and prepare all papers to be discussed in their group; work will take place in two or three groups of students. A team of senior scholars will be formed around Professor dr. Isabelle Devos (Ghent), Professor dr. Eric Vanhaute (Ghent) and Dr. Ariadne Schmidt (Leiden). A European Advanced Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded to participants who have successfully completed the course.

Student requirements

The RDC program is intended for PhD students in economic and social history regardless of the subject of their dissertation. Students need to be at the very least in the end of their first year of PhD-research at the time of the course, and at the most at the end of their second year (or the equivalent of this time in 1,0 fte). For a fruitful participation it is absolutely vital that students have actually been working on their own research for at least 6 months by the time they begin writing their paper so that they are able to put together a first extensive design of their research plans (aims, objectives, sources and methods). The working language for papers, presentations and discussion is English. Participants of the course should be aware of the fact that sufficient command of English is a necessity for a useful and satisfying participation.

Applications and admission

Students should apply online, together with a 1,500 word presentation of their dissertation, containing an abstract of their dissertation as well as a report on the main research questions, the methodology used and the expected findings. It is important to note that the application must be officially approved of by the student's supervisor. Supervisors will – after the course – be informed about the student’s performance at the RDC. The abstract should be in a regular font (e.g., Times New Roman) and should be single-spaced.

A first selection of students will take place on the basis of the presentation. After this stage, students who are accepted will be asked to follow a set of guidelines in order to draft their research paper. The final admission to the course depends upon the following points:

• the students must meet the deadline for submission of his/her paper.
• the quality of the paper: the papers must be of sufficient academic quality, and the level of the English used in the paper must be sufficient.

• is not submitted in time
• signals that language skills are not sufficient for useful participation. The organizers have the right to refuse papers that do not meet academic standards.

Dates and location

The 2012 RDC will take place at Ghent University, Belgium, from 17-20 September 2012. Students wishing to participate are requested to send in their application no later than 1 May 2012. For this purpose it is necessary to use the online form. A printed version of this form should be signed by the supervisor and be sent by separate e-mail to the organizers of the RDC. The selection of students will be completed by the beginning of June. Deadline for submission of papers by accepted students is 15 August, 2012. Following that date, the papers will be made available to all participants on the ESTER-website.

Funding

Accommodation, lunches and coffee/tea as well as one dinner will be provided for by the organizers. Travel arrangements to and from Ghent have to be organized by the selected participants themselves. The student's home institution should cover travel costs.

Contact

For inquiries concerning this course, please contact the program director:
Dr. Ariadne Schmidt
N.W. Posthumus Institute
Institute for History
PO Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

e-mail: nwp@hum.leidenuniv.nl