PhD Masterclass – Micro-level of educational research

We kindly invite you for the second interuniversity PhD-masterclass with a focus on the micro-level of educational research and methodological challenges in this field. The goal of this PhD-masterclass is to broaden the network and sharpen the skills of junior researchers in this field.

In order to realize these goals a two-day program will be organized on May 25 and 26 2022 in Antwerp including ‘networking-for-researchers’, contemplative lectures by seniors and in-depth presentations and discussions of ongoing research of PhD students. We are happy to announce that the program will also include a key-note lecture by prof. dr. Martin Valcke.

The program will start on May 25 at 10.30 am and will end on May 26 in the late afternoon. Registration will include the scientific program as well as coffee-breaks, lunches and dinner. Please note that participants are expected to attend the complete program. At present we are in the process of applying for funding to intervene in the costs for registration and accommodation. Given that we have already been partly successful in our funding requests, we can guarantee that the costs for registration will be minimal.

In order to prepare for a highly interactive learning experience, we will ask each participant upon registration to submit a short paper (between 1000 and 5000 words) in which the research that you want to discuss (this can be a research plan, work in progress, as well as finished work, depending on the stage of your Phd) during the in-depth presentations and discussions is shortly described. In order to give the PhD-masterclass also a content-wise focus, we ask you to clearly relate your theoretical framework with your methodological challenges regarding at least one of the following issues:

• formulation of the research questions
• design of your study
• operationalization of the variables; specific assessment approaches
• follow up research
• theoretical implications of your results

Please clearly align your theoretical framework, research design, and the methodological challenges.

The organizing committee will make all papers available before the PhD-masterclass takes place and will assign discussants for each paper. You will thus be asked to read each other’s papers.

Given the goals of this master-class, the aim is to keep the group small, so do not hesitate to register early enough because we might need to close the registrations earlier if needed. In that case, we will organize a waiting list and will start making plans for a follow-up edition as the plan of the organizers is to not limit this to a single event.

Registration will be possible via this link: registration Flemish Interuniversity PhD Masterclass as from January on and closes at February 24 2024. You will still have the time until March 17 2023 to submit your 1000-5000 words paper.

Important dates:

–          January: First call and opening of registration

–          February 24: closing of registration (in case maximum capacity has not been reached earlier)

–          March 17: deadline for submitting your 1000-5000 words paper.

–          May 15-17: please reserve some hours for reading work, giving feedback and preparing a visual representation of your paper (we will take care of printing this visual in landscape A3 format – placemat format)

–          May 25-26 2022: coffee will be available as from 10 am on. We will start at 10.30h sharp in Antwerp.

Organizing committee: Hilde Van Keer (UGent), Bram De Wever (UGent), Fien Depaepe (KULeuven) , David Gijbels (UAntwerpen)

If you have any questions concerning the registration or other practical questions, please contact Ayla.Deschepper@uantwerpen.be.