EH.N: ESTER/GLOBALEURONET Research Design Course Barcelona (extended deadline)

[Alfonso Herranz]

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Second ESTER-GLOBALEURONET Research Design Course (RDC), or HOW TO DESIGN, CONSTRUCT AND FORMULATE YOUR DOCTORAL THESIS

University of Barcelona, Spain, 28-31 July 2009
Keynote lecture: Professor Jeffrey Williamson (Harvard University, Department of Economics)

ATTENTION: The deadline for application has been extended to March 31. Applications must be sent electronically or faxes as soon as possible to the office of ESTER: A. van der Veen, e-mailaddress: nwp at rug.nl, faxnr. 00-31-50-363 8454.

ESTER and GLOBALEURONET announce their second jointly-organized Research 
Design Course for economic and social historians. 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 is to provide comments and lead discussions. The 
course consists of a 3- to 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; all students need to read and 
prepare all papers to be discussed in their group. A team of senior 
scholars will be formed around Professor Alfonso Herranz Loncán
(Barcelona) and Dr. Ben Gales (Groningen). A European Advanced 
Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded to participants who have 
successfully completed the course.

The RDC programme 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 study at the 
time of the course, and at the most in the course of their second year. 
For a fruitful participation it is absolutely vital that students have 
been actually working on their own research for at least 6 months by the 
time they begin to write 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.

The RDC will take place at the University of Barcelona, Spain, from 
28-31 July, 2009. Costs for accommodation, catering and course material 
will be fully covered by the organizers. However, the student’s home 
institution should cover travel costs.

Students wishing to participate are requested to send in their 
application form, together with an 800 word abstract of the content of 
their dissertation project, no later than 31 March 2009. It is important 
to note that application and abstract must be approved of and signed by 
the student’s supervisor. The selection of students will be completed by 
the beginning of May. Deadline for submission of papers by accepted 
students is 29 May 2009.

For the application form and more information about the course please 
visit the RDC website at:
http://www.rug.nl/posthumus/esterinternationalprogram/RDC2009

Alfonso Herranz Loncán
University of Barcelona
alfonso.herranz at ub.edu