GSSR Research Summer School 2021

September 10-15, 2021, Poland (TBD)

Call for Applications, PhD Students at Higher Education Institutes outside of Poland

This is a Call for Applications for humanities and social science PhD students studying at Higher Education Institutions (HEI) outside of Poland, to attend the GSSR Summer School 2021.  

In Autumn 2021, from September 10 to 15, the Graduate School for Social Research, GSSR, of the Polish Academy of Sciences Institutes of Philosophy and Sociology (IFiS), Political Studies (IPS) and Psychology (IP), is organizing the international Summer School 2021 on Academic Professionalization.

About the Summer School

The GSSR Summer School 2021 is designed for PhD students in the Social Sciences and Humanities to exchange knowledge, enhance their academic skills, and gain experience while forming social bonds with faculty and fellow students that will benefit their academic and professional careers and personal lives. With the aim to provide best practices for, and address issues regarding, doctoral research, the theme of the GSSR Summer School 2021 is Academic Professionalization.

Academic professionalization is the process of becoming a good colleague and well-prepared scholar whose aim is to contribute academic knowledge, improve the research community at home and abroad, and share what we learn with society-at-large. The positive impact of a caring community of academic professionals ripples beyond the school environment and into the intellectual and policy debates across all areas of human social life. GSSR aims to do its part by training the next generation of academic professionals here in Poland and abroad. The Summer School 2021 is one of GSSR’s training programs.

Since 1992, GSSR’s specialty is to encourage, facilitate, and create interdisciplinary research. In keeping with this tradition, one component of the Summer School 2021 are substantive lectures from faculty of our constituent institutes and prominent scholars from abroad on a most-timely theme, Uncertainty.  Speakers will engage with this theme from the point of view of philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology. The same multi-and interdisciplinary approach characterizes the other Summer School elements, that is, Roundtable Discussions and Presentations. 

Basics at a glance

Target audience:                                      PhD students in Humanities and the Social Sciences

Academic dates:                                      September 2021, Friday, 10 – Wednesday, 15

Location:                                                 Poland, TBD

Mode of participation:                             In person (i.e. offline)

Instruction language:                               English

Scholarships:                                           Six scholarships covering travel, accommodation and meal expenses for PhD students from foreign HEIs

Academic fees:                                        No Fees

Application deadline:                               July 19, 2021

Notification of acceptance status:            July 30, 2021

Contact:                                                 Myroslava Keryk (mkeryk@gssr.edu.pl)

Structure of the GSSR Summer School 2021

To enhance students’ academic skills, international experience and social networks, the Summer School 2021 combines (1) the workshop method with (2) lectures and round-tables, (3) student presentations and (4) social events. The prevailing means of training is the workshop method – together with faculty, PhD students will work in small groups to address problems of their dissertation research and that of their colleagues. The Summer School contains the following elements:

  • Small Group Discussions: Small groups are ideal for intense discussions and personalized attention about specific dissertation and academic professionalization issues.
  • Faculty lectures and Roundtable discussions on academic professionalism: This dual approach accounts for the fact that some academic professionalization topics are better conveyed via lectures, while others thru discussions.
  • Faculty lectures on the theme of Uncertainty: Participants will learn about “uncertainty” from philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology.
  • PhD Student Presentations: Selected PhD students will present the main thrust of their dissertation research in a Conference-style format.
  • Student governance presentation: GSSR student government discusses problems and issues of student governance.
  • Social events: Provide the opportunity to form social bonds with faculty and fellow students.  

Covid-19 restrictions

Due to the ongoing effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, GSSR will hold the Summer School physically if deemed safe by the Polish public health authorities and the majority of participants, including from abroad, will be able to travel to the Summer School location. Please check the COVID-19 regulations concerning travel and quarantine in Poland before applying to the GSSR Summer School 2021 (strazgraniczna.pl/pl/cudzoziemcy/ogolne-warunki-wjazdu-i/4497,Entry-and-stay-conditions.html).

During the Summer School 2021, organizers implement and abide by the rules that the Polish state authorities define for COVID-19 safety, including on access to the School’s premises. Thus, please ensure that you meet one of the conditions specified below to access the premises where the School will be held:

a) Participants present a valid certificate confirming that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

b) Participants present a negative test on COVID-19 that is valid at the time of their arrival to the Summer School 2021.

c) Participants present a valid certificate that they have recovered from COVID-19

The EU Digital COVID Certificate (ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/coronavirus-response/safe-covid-19-vaccines-europeans/eu-digital-covid-certificate_en) covers either of the three situations above.

d) Participants present valid notification from a medical doctor that they have a special health condition that does not allow them to undergo COVID-19 vaccination or testing.

Eligibility requirements

We invite PhD students who conduct humanities, philosophy especially, and social science dissertation research at HEIs outside of Poland, to apply for participation in the GSSR Summer School 2021. It is expected that participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work to fellow students and faculty. Applications from students in the first three years of the doctoral program are especially encouraged.

Selected PhD students will deliver a presentation of research from their dissertation, in a conference-style format (i.e. presentation followed by Questions and Answers).

Application process

Participation is free of charge for any accepted student. Additionally, organizers can provide up to six Scholarships to cover transportation costs to and from Poland to their country of residence, (the scholarships covers insurance and travel expenses up to 5000 PLN for travel from outside Europe, and up to 3000 PLN for travel within Europe), accommodation and meals for the duration of the GSSR Summer School 2021 (successful applicants will be paid per diems for duration of the Summer School up to 4840 PLN).

To apply, you need to submit the following materials electronically:

1.   Your recent CV

2. A Statement of Purpose (up to 500 words) that describes:

  1. Your experience with academic professionalization, with publishing as a PhD student and applying for grants, especially.
  2. How the GSSR Summer School 2021 fits to your research interests.

3. An extended abstract of your dissertation research (ca. 850 – 1000 words).

Please briefly discuss each of the following elements of your dissertation project: (a) Research question(s), and the general research problem they link to; (b) The argument as to why your research question(s) pass the ‘so what?’ condition (i.e. what is the relevance of your topic for the disciplinary field(s) you are working in);  (c) Main theoretical framework(s) that inform your research (brief outline, not detailed description of given theory); (d) If your research involves explanation (i.e. causal analysis), provide the Research hypotheses and briefly indicate how they link to the theoretical framework(s) you chose; (e) What data and methods of analysis you use, or plan to use, to examine the research hypotheses; (f) What limitations are these data and methods likely to have, given what you set out to investigate? (g) If applicable, an overview of empirical results so far.

4. The completed Application form. Please click

All materials that form the application are due Monday 19, July 2021 (23:59 CET). Please send themelectronically to summerschool2021@gssr.edu.pl.

A Selection Committee composed of GSSR faculty and administration will review the applications. Successful applicants will be notified via email by July 30, 2021.

Selected participants will need to provide invoices (e.g. for international travel) and fill in some additional information at the site of the Summer School, to receive the reimbursement for travel expenses and accommodation.

For further information, please contact Myroslava Keryk (mkeryk@gssr.edu.pl)

Funding and organizational support for the GSSR Summer School 2021

International PhD student funding comes from the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, NAWA (nawa.gov.pl), “International Scholarship Exchange of PhD Candidates and Academic Staff,” PROM, project (PPI/PRO/2019/1/00043/U/00001).

The GSSR Summer School 2021 is funded by Narodowego Centrum Badań i Rozwoju (NCBiR, gov.pl/web/ncbr) for the “Humanities and Social Sciences for Society and Enterprise” programme administered by the Graduate School for Social Research (POWR.03.02.00-IP.08-I019/17). Additional funding comes from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, IFiS PAN.

Organizational support for the Summer School 2021 comes from GSSR, IFiS PAN (ifispan.edu.pl), and CONSIRT of The Ohio State University and the Polish Academy of Sciences (consirt.osu.edu).

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