CA L L F O R AP P L I C A T I O N S

ESTER Research Design Course: How to

strengthen your dissertation project

The European graduate School for Training in Economic and social historical

Research (ESTER) is an European platform for postgraduate teaching.

ESTER announces its annual Research Design Course for economic and

social historians on

12-14 November 2013, Verona (Italy)

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. At present the network is organized by the N.W.

Posthumus Institute, which is a national graduate 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 this PhD-course for

the study of social-economic history.

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 is to provide comments and lead

discussions.

First, students will be offered advanced theoretical and methodological

expertise in the field of history. Theory and methodology in this sense should

not be understood at the level of prevailing empirical theories that attempt to

explain specific historical problems, such as the rise of the welfare state or

modern economic growth. The theory and methodology offered in this course

will focus on 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 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. The course welcomes students drawing from

a wide range of theoretical and methodological orientations.

Second, the RDC course aims to assist 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. This must be done in a well-structured manner. 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 thoroughly

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 3 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. This year a maximum number of 35

students can be admitted; work will take place in two or three groups of

students. A team of senior scholars will be formed around Dr. Edoardo Demo

(Verona), Professor Marco Belfanti (Brescia) Dr. Jeroen Touwen and Dr.

Marijn Molema (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. 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 and submit a 800 word abstract of the content of

their dissertation project. A letter of approval from the supervisor can be part

of the selection procedure.

A first selection of students will take place on the basis of the abstract. 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.

In case of equal and sufficient quality of the presentations, students of

economic and social history from institutions and countries participating in

ESTER will be given priority, but the organizers strongly encourage students

based on any European university to apply.

Dates and location

The 2013 RDC will take place at the University of Verona, Italy, from

November 12th-14th. The course will start on Tuesday at 9.00 AM, so the day

of arrival will be on Monday, November 11th. Students wishing to participate

are requested to send in their application no later than June 1st, 2013. For this

purpose it is necessary to use the online form. The selection of students will

be completed by the beginning of June. Deadline for submission of papers by

accepted students is October 1st, 2013. Following that date, the papers will be

made available to all participants on the ESTER-website.

Timepad (2013)

15 March Call for Applications

1 June Deadline application

15 June Selection completed, applicants informed

1 October Deadline paper submission

12 October Papers online for reading

12-14 November RDC

Funding

Registration costs for the RDC in Verona, which have to be paid beforehand,

are € 50,-. Costs for accommodation (November 11th-14th) and catering will be

covered by the organizers. However, the student's home institution should

cover travel costs. Travel arrangements to and from Verona have to be

organized by the selected participants themselves.

Contact

For inquiries concerning this course, please contact the program director of

ESTER and the N.W. Posthumus Institute:

Dr. Marijn Molema

Institute for History - PO Box 9515 - 2300 RA LEIDEN (The Netherlands)

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