FEKIS PhD Mini Conference

The PhD Mini Conference (doctoral colloquium) will be held at Karlstad University on October 22-23, 2024, alongside the main FEKIS conference. The PhD Mini Conference starts on October 22 after lunch (following the FEKIS PhD course in the morning), and will be held in a constructive, collaborative, inclusive and friendly environment.

The PhD Mini Conference will commence with a keynote of an internationally recognised research leader. During the afternoon, PhD students will have the opportunity to present and discuss their research in smaller groups. These groups will each be joined by senior academics in the field acting as mentors. Generating feedback around your research and creating networking opportunities with fellow PhD students and academics is central to this first day. To further enhance mingling, the afternoon session is followed by the main conference welcome reception.

The second day of the PhD Mini Conference restarts again after the lunch break of the main FEKIS conference. This offers all PhD students the opportunity to join the keynotes and opening sessions of the main conference during the morning on October 23. In the afternoon, there will then be two consecutive workshops for PhD students, one around (interdisciplinary) theorising and one around sustainable academic careers. These workshops will offer hands-on insights into academic life around scholarly thinking and scholarly being, with a long-term perspective to help you succeed in this industry.

The PhD Day requires a fee of 1250 SEK (incl VAT), which includes meals/fika and registration to both the PhD Day and the FEKIS conference. We are not able to provide any financial support or travel assistance.

We will accept applications until August 30, 2024, and space is limited.

Information for PhD Students

PhD students in any year of study are welcome to submit their research. We are keen to provide you with the maximum opportunity for discussion and to receive focused, detailed and constructive feedback on your research from mentors and fellow group members. For this reason, please consider how you would benefit most in terms of feedback. More specifically: 

  • Students in the early stages of their PhD may benefit most from feedback on their critical review of the literature, conceptual framing of their study and the development of their research question(s). 
  • Students in the mid-stages of their PhD may benefit most from feedback on their justification for their research design and methodology and how this aligns with their research question(s) and aims. 
  • Finally, students in the final stages of their PhD may value feedback on their preliminary analysis of findings and their articulation of the proposed theoretical contribution of their study.

Please include the following information as part of your submission document:

  1. Title of thesis
  2. Student’s name and surname
  3. University affiliation
  4. Contact details: university email address
  5. Supervisor’s names and university affiliations
  6. Main research summary of 3000 words (excluding references)
  7. Keywords: 4-6 keywords about your research
  8. Motivation statement: Discuss why you want to attend the mini-conference and what you would like to get out of it (no more than 200 words). Please be as specific as you can.

The purpose of the research summary document, preferably in research paper format, is to provide group members/mentors with a reasonable overview of your work, and for you to highlight two or three aspects of your research on which you would like feedback and discussion. PhD students will present their research in their group, followed by a group discussion.

Key Dates:

  • Deadline for PhD research summary submission: August 30 (earlier submissions are appreciated). E-mail it to ingo.karpen@kau.se
  • Author notification regarding who will be admitted: September 09 (those accepted will receive further information)
  • Deadline for conference registration: September 22. Register on the conference home page.
  • FEKIS PhD mini-conference: October 22-23