“Interdisciplinary perspectives on public administration, governance, and policy”

There is place for about 10 WU PhD/ doctorate students - anyone is welcome; no restrictions about departments etc; the focus is however on: public administration, governance, civil society, and policy (and no restrictions with respect to disciplinary background, methods or theories used in your work).

The idea:

A micro-conference at the WU (with several external guests): Two-and-a-half days talking about each other’s research, giving feedback, getting feedback, … and afterwards we all go home even smarter than we already were, and with again some good scholarly memories…

PhDs should submit and present one of the following research formats (Deadline for submission: 18 Sept, 2022; email to jurgen.willems@wu.ac.at):

1. Full paper: A paper in an “almost ready” stage, for which you would like to get some feedback before submitting it to a journal. – we foresee some time to present, and we make sure that people can give detailed feedback.

2. Research pitches: You present a 5 to 7 minute idea that you have for a new study. The audience gets in brainstorm modus and shoots all possible ideas for methods, literature, references, .. maybe even collaborations,… etc.

3. R&R mirror: When you have received a Revise-&-Resubmit decision for one of your papers, and you can share it with the other participants, we will discuss ways to tackle #Reviewer 2 with his/her nasty comments.

Some extra info points:

1. Deadline to submit is: 18 September, 2022. – Submit at “jurgen.willems@wu.ac.at”

    a. For full papers: you submit the full paper. Potentially on the first page you can add some notes on which particular elements you expect  / desire some extra feedback + you can give some background with respect to target journal, etc. So share extra information that can make the feedback of others more directed, and thus potentially more effective.

    b. For research pitches: Send a title, and potentially some lines / paragraphs of background information on an idea you have. (PPT is also possible, and highly encouraged)

    c. For R&Rs:  send paper and (parts of) R&R you want to discuss, get feedback on, etc.

2. It is possible to do multiple submissions, but then give a clear indication of your priorities on what you definitely want to discuss at the workshop. In case we have too little time to deal with it all in 2 days, I will make a fair selection.

3. All the stuff that you submit will be shared with all participants – so feedback can come from all of us.

4. We expect all participants to participate actively and give useful feedback to others.

5. The event will be in English: as we will have some international guests.

External guest professors are invited, and will also join in the active feedback, discussion, and brainstorm processes.

Every year I try to have several guest scholars joining in the event. This broadens the scope and the potential richness of the feedback PhDs can receive. it is also a good network opportunity. In retun, I expect your professional participation.

•           Concrete feedback for own research ideas, work in progress, and research proposals
•           Insights in currently high-relevance topics, both from a scientific and practitioner perspective.
•           Reflection on a broad range of new methods applied in the field of public administration, governance, and policy
•           Advanced insights in publication process
•           Reference framework from peers and faculty with respect to managing own research agenda and priorities
•           Insights in successfully conducting (international) collaborative research projects

Preparation and attendance are required:

Preparation: submit materials in order to get feedback, and read materials of others to give feedback to others

Attendance: during the seminar, active and constructive participation in discussions

About Submission (DEADLINE!! BY 18 SEPTEMBER 2022!!)

· Anyone can submit one or more of the formats as listed above (submit directly to me: jurgen.willems@wu.ac.at )

· If you submit more than one element, give me (when you submit) some extra explanation on your priorities (what would you definitely like to get feedback on; what would be nice to get feedback on: +depending on slots, I will balance what we have).

· Make it easy for the others to give useful feedback; so I strongly recommend to add a note on the first page (paper / pitch / R&R) with some bullet-points on (i.e. “status description”):

o what the current status is of your project,

o target journal,

o collaborators in your project,

o what YOU are still struggling with,

o where you want more input,

o concrete trade-off you want to discuss with the group, etc…

· We expect that all participants will have read (in detail) each other’s submission (!). We will only invest a few minutes “talking time” to introduce your paper / pitch / R&R; so that we – as everybody will have read each other’s work – can immediately jump into the feedback discussion with a clear focus (based on “status description” that you add to your submission).

Participant can submit at least one (!) of the following formats:

1.       Full paper: A paper in an “almost ready” stage, for which you would like to get some feedback before submitting it to a journal. – We foresee some time to present, and we make sure that people can give detailed feedback. You submit the full paper. Potentially on the first page you can add some notes on which particular elements you expect  / desire some extra feedback + you can give some background with respect to target journal, etc. So share extra information that can make the feedback of others more directed, and thus potentially more effective.

2.       Research pitches: You present an idea for a study or funding proposal in a 5 to 7-minute pitch. The audience gets in brainstorm modus and shoots all possible ideas for methods, literature, references, ... maybe even collaborations,… etc. you can share a title, a short descriptive, and a 1-slide visual aid to pitch your idea. The focus is on harvesting the collective wisdom of the audience.

3.       R&R mirror: When you have received a Revise-&-Resubmit decision for one of your papers, and you can share it with the other participants, we will discuss ways to tackle in a constructive way various reviewer comments.

Other participants write short feedback notes, and we discuss them collectively.

a. Participation (50%)

b. Your presentation during the seminar (50%)

All WU registered PhD students can participate; Maximum of 10 WU PhD students. We rely on a self-selection of PhD students, based on relevance of own ideas and papers in the context of: Interdisciplinary perspectives on public administration, governance, and policy

For extra questions, please contact me on: jurgen.willems@wu.ac.at