This seminar provides training and support for the research capacity and professional development of all doctoral candidates in the Department of Government. Sessions are compulsory for first-year students. Advanced students are welcome to audit the seminar, and may be particularly interested in refreshing their knowledge of certain topics as outlined in the schedule below. The seminar focuses on writing and presenting a research proposal for the thesis, as well as other significant aspects of socialization into the discipline of political science. We aim to help PhD candidates develop a wide range of professional skills, giving them the capacity to complete their PhD and compete for academic jobs.
Doctoral candidates in the Department carry out their research in a wide variety of areas on a diverse set of topics, using a wide range of different approaches from nomothetic-deductive formal modelling, to quantitative and qualitative comparative studies, to normative political philosophy. Healthy exposure to these different perspectives in the scholarly study of politics provides an opportunity to improve general knowledge and background, and even provide new ideas for specialised areas of research. This seminar is not aimed at any sub-field or methodological tradition in particular.
Inevitably, the primary focus here is the academic profession. We will therefore practise a number of specific skills such as drafting research proposals, presenting results, and publication strategies. However, many of the sessions are also highly relevant for the other kinds of professions in which PhD graduates often find employment. Whatever your target, we aim in this seminar to provide a constructively critical atmosphere in which to hone various skills.
- Module Supervisor: Shane Martin