Research Design Course (RDC)

The Research Design Course is a three or four-day workshop concentrating upon the research projects of the individual participants.

• General information
• Minimum criteria for admission
• Organization of the Research Design Course

General information

The RDC-course consists of a 3- to 4-day workshop of up to a maximum of 40 PhD-students in economic and social history. More information about the conditions for admission to and organization of these workshops you will find below.

The RDC course assists PhD-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. The course offers PhD-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. It offers this help by:

Providing expertise
PhD-students will be offered advanced theoretical and methodological expertise in the field of history. 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. It also focuses on the construction of databases and the use of quantitative methods of analysis, or the construction of the “plot” in a historical inquiry. The aim 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 PhD-students drawing from a wide range of theoretical and methodological orientations.

Aiding dissertation plans
Second, the RDC-course aims to assist PhD-students in “constructing their dissertation plan”. PhD-students will be invited to apply the theoretical and methodological knowledge they have obtained to their own dissertation project. PhD-students will be asked to write a paper in which a detailed work plan for the dissertation should be given. The papers will be thoroughly scrutinized and examined during the course by junior and senior scholars together.

Minimum criteria for admission

The RDC-program is intended for PhD-students who meet all of the following requirements: ul>

• the study must be in economic and social history (regardless of the subject of their dissertation), and
• PhD-students need to be at the very least in the end of their first year of study at the time of the course, and at the most in the course of their second year, and
• PhD-students have been actually working on their own research for at least 6 months by the time they begin to write their paper, and
• PhD-students must have sufficient command of the English language, both in speach as well as in writing.

Protocal for admission and application

1. PhD-students should apply by sending the online form, together with a 1,500 word presentation of their dissertation. It is important to note that application and abstract must be approved of and signed by the student’s supervisor. This abstract must be in English.
2. A first selection of PhD-students will take place on the basis of the abstract.
3. After this stage, PhD-students accepted will be asked to download a list of readings to prepare and a set of guidelines to follow in order to draft their research paper.
4. The final admission to the course also depends upon the following points:
   a) the student must meet the deadline for submission of his/her paper;
   b) the quality of the paper: the paper should be of sufficient academic quality, and the level of the English used in the paper should be sufficient. The Organized by are entitled to refuse papers that do not meet academic standards.
5. In case of equal quality PhD-students of economic and social history from institutions and countries participating in ESTER will be given priority. However, the Organized by strongly encourage PhD-students based in any European university to apply.
6. The maximum number of participants for each RDC will be between 30 and 40 students, divided into 3 or 4 groups; the exact number will be published in the call for abstracts of each RDC.

Organization of the Research Design Course

• PhD-students 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 90 minutes sessions. Each session will begin with comments prepared by one of the participating PhD-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.
• All PhD-students need to read and prepare all papers to be discussed in their group.
• A European Advanced Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded to participants who have successfully completed the course.
• At the end of each Research Design Course an Award will be granted to the student with the best paper (incl. paper presentation) at the meeting. The jury for the Award will be formed by the group of experts present at the course.

Call RDC 2012, Ghent