Establishing and Sustaining a Professional Career
Prerequisiti
Only for 3rd and 4th year Phd students
Programma
Overview
The course provides practical advice to develop an academic career in the social sciences. In particular, the course focuses on some of the key aspects of professional career development, including CV writing, choosing international conferences and networking, publishing in international journals, applying for research funding, and gearing up to job market interviews.
The major aim of the course is to increase students' awareness of the requirements to excel in the current academic job market. However, the practical take of the course is also of interest to those who are interested in pursuing a professional career outside of academia
Course format
The course is organized in seven meetings that focus on the major aspects of professional development career. Each thematic session will include instructor and participants’ active participation especially for testing job interviews and getting published. In particular, participants will be required to review a piece of research, prepare a CV, and respond to a job announcement. More information on the activities required during the course will be provided during the first meeting
Objectives
The course will provide students with practical guidance on the craft of performing some key tasks: networking, getting published, obtaining research funding, and job seeking.
Requirements:
All readings are recommended and not required.
During the course students will be required to prepare the following material. More information on the content and timing of the submission of the documents listed below will be provided during the first meeting:
- CV;
- List of journals in the area of interest;
- Read a sample of journal reviewers’ reports (that will be circulated by the instructor);
- Application to a job announcement.
Schedule
Session n. 1
13 January 10.30am - 1pm
Establishing and sustaining a sustainable career: why
The session will introduce the professional ‘expectations’ associated with a PhD course. During the session, information on the course contents and requirements will be provided
Suggested readings and videos:
7 Things about a PhD nobody told you about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKsQf77nHU
Session n. 2
14 January 10.30am - 1pm
Networking and conferencing
This session will focus on the importance of participating to international academic conferences and on the modalities to get the most out of these opportunities. We will also focus on the use of social media to promote one’s research.
Guest speaker (10-12.30): Lorenzo Bosi
Suggested readings:
Iain Hay, Matthew Flinders (2017), How to become an academic super hero
Chapters 1-9 and Chapter 11
Session n. 3
3 February 10-13
Applying for research funds
This session will focus on the practical modalities of how to identify and apply for research funding
Guest speakers: Richard Higgott (Brussels School of Governance), Lorenzo Cini (Dublin), and Alice Mattoni (University of Bologna)
Suggested readings:
Iain Hay, Matthew Flinders (2017), How to become an academic super hero
Chapters 12-15 and Chapter 21
Session n. 4
9 February 15-18
Publishing in international journals
This session will focus on the challenges and opportunities of publishing in international journals
Suggested readings and videos:
- Demystifying the review process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2z2Bv3oL4
- Neil D. Fligstein (2019), Publishing in Modern Times, Sociologica. V.13 N.1
Session 5
10 February 10.30-13.30
Life outside academia: a job or a research experience in the policy world
This session will focus on the opportunities for PhD outside academia with the help of practitioners in international and European institutions.
Session n. 6
24 February 14-17
The job interview
Job search committee: Marco Deseris, Guglielmo Meardi, Hans Jorg Trenz
Session 7
25 February 9-12
Publishing your dissertation/book
This session will focus on the challenges and opportunities of transforming the PhD in a publishable book
Suggested video:
Dominic Byatt, How to Publish Like an Academic Rock Star
https://www.geg.ox.ac.uk/publication/video-how-publish-academic-rock-star
Obiettivi formativi
The course will provide students with practical guidance on the craft of performing some key tasks: networking, getting published, obtaining research funding, and job seeking.