CIDS Doctoral Research Seminars No. 2

The Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement (CIDS) is pleased to continue its series of Doctoral Research Seminars, following a successful kick-off in autumn 2018. This series offers Ph.D. students a platform to discuss central questions relating to doctoral research in international law, under the guidance of senior researchers in the field. The Seminars aim to achieve stimulating and provocative exchanges, leading doctoral students to ask important questions concerning research and to arrive at their own conclusions. Through these interactions, emerging international law scholars are expected to increase their autonomy as researchers and approach the challenges of the Ph.D. in a spirit of innovation.

The second Seminar of the series was convened on Tuesday, 16 April 2019:

  • Discussion led by Dr. Florian Grisel (Reader, King’s College London; Research Fellow, CNRS Paris-Nanterre) on ‘Choosing a research method appropriate to the research question’.

  • Discussion led by Prof. Andrea Bianchi (Professor of International Law and Director of Studies, Graduate Institute, Geneva; Advisory Faculty, Global Governance Centre, Graduate Institute, Geneva) on ‘What's a PhD for? Whom should it be written for? Freedom and constraint in academic writing.’

Starting in 2019, there will be two CIDS Doctoral Research Seminars each semester. Themes considered for future Seminars include:

  • Choosing the right sources for the thesis.

  • Can a descriptive work be good research?

  • Challenges of interdisciplinarity and heterodox approaches.

  • Why should a doctoral student ask herself what body of knowledge she wants to contribute to?

  • Can and should a Ph.D. in international law save the world?

  • The craft of legal research.

  • How to interact with a supervisor.

  • Ways of using references: between ‘giving credit where it’s due’ and ‘arguments by authority’.

The seminars are free of charge and are limited to 15 participants per session. Ph.D. students in international dispute settlement at the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute have first priority, then other Ph.D. students of the University and the Institute, then Ph.D. students from other institutions, with first-come first-served order within each category.

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