VSRxELS PhDays

Event

ELS Academy organised a PhDays together with the VSR

After pre-VSR conference PhDays in Leuven (2022) and Amsterdam (2023), the VSRxELS PhD School this year took place on January 16 and 17. And it was yet another success!

We kicked off Day 1 with opening remarks by Danielle Chevalier and Quirine Eijkman and an inspiring keynote by Ashley Terlouw about bridging the gap between science and politics. We explored academia ‘inside’, with beginner and advanced level workshops on methodology: interviews, surveys, experiments and translating empirical findings to normative implications. On Day 2, Barbara Oomen presented her keynote on engagement in PhD research and offered advice on how to navigate academia – the keynote was nothing short of engaging. We then explored academia ‘outside’, with workshops on external factors that can influence the course of the PhD. Helen Pluut provided the concluding remarks on behalf of ELS Academy.

We are happy to collaborate with the VSR on this event, which is by and for PhD students. We are therefore very grateful to the organizing committee, consisting of Dorien Claessen, Eve Ernst, Kimia Heidary, Anne Janssen and Kaat Overmeire. Together with the participating PhD students – who come from different countries, have various research backgrounds and are in different stages of their research – they manage to create a safe, fun and inspiring atmosphere.

A big thank you to the Access to Justice research group of Hogeschool Utrecht for hosting us this year in snowy Utrecht .