Academic year 2024-2025
Our academic year starts with the September Programme (for 1st-year researchers) and is then divided into three terms:
First term: October- December 2024
*Seminars resume on 30 September 2024 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations open at the end of August
Second term: January - March 2025
*Seminars resume on 6 January 2025 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations open in mid-October and close in mid-December.
Third term: April - June 2025
* All workshops grant 10 credits - The registrations will open by the end of February
September Programme
The SPS September programme, which is intended for incoming 1st year researchers, consists of Accademia Fiesolana and three preparatory workshops.
Accademia Fiesolana is the SPS Department’s introductory department seminar. Its objective is for first-year researchers to become familiar with the research done in the SPS department. It consists of seminar meetings in which the faculty members of the department introduce their research. There is also a session showcasing the department’s pluralism, in which two very different theoretical and methodological approaches to the same topic – identity – are brought together.
The Preparatory workshops are voluntary but recommended. The objectives of the three workshops are to prepare researchers for courses offered later in the programme and to brush up on some basic skills that researchers may need during their studies. They are offered as intensive courses over one week.
Block 1
Accademia Fiesolana (Compulsory for all first-year researchers). No credits.
Date: 12 – 20 September 2024
No registration required
Contact: [email protected]
Block 2
Preparatory workshops (Recommended for all first-year researchers) No credits.
Dates: from 23-27 September 2024
Register here
Contact: [email protected]
10:00 – 12:00 Mathematics for Political and Social Scientists
13:00 – 15:00 Introduction to R
15:00 – 17:00 Introduction to Qualitative Methods – Philosophy and Ethics, Interviews and Ethnography
Contact: [email protected]
First term: October - December 2024
* Seminars resume on 30 September 2024 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations in Osiris open at the end of August and close end of September.
Workshop Title: Prospectus workshop
Date: TBC
Mentoring professor / Instructor: S. HIX, A. HEMERIJCK, A.JABBOUR & P. WAGNER
Contact: [email protected]
Workshop Title: Game theory
Date: TBC
Instructor: N. KONSTANTINIDIS (MWF)
Mentoring professor: E. DINAS
Contact: [email protected]
Second term: January - March 2025
Seminars resume on 6 January 2025 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations in Osiris open mid-October and close mid-December.
Third term: April - June 2025
All workshops grant 10 credits unless otherwise specified
The registrations will be open by the end of January
Useful information for researchers:
FIELD SEMINARS:
Field seminars - there are four: “Sociology”, “International Relations”, “Comparative Politics”, ”Public Policy and Institutions”. Each researcher must follow and pass at least one field seminar of their choice in the first year of studies.
METHODS SEMINARS
Methods seminars - go from compulsory introductory seminars in qualitative and quantitative methods to intermediate and more advanced mixed methodological seminars.
RESEARCH SEMINARS:
Research seminars (=non-methods, non-field) are more focused on specific, cutting- edge topics within a given substantive research area.
Each researcher must follow and pass either "Introduction to Quantitative Methods" or "Intermediate Quantitative Methods" and either "Introduction to Qualitative Methods" or "Intermediate Qualitative Methods" during the first two years of the doctoral programme
WORKSHOPS
Workshops - are shorter in duration than seminars and are concentrated in a few days (typically, two or three days). They usually take place in the third term and are mostly devoted to research methods.
Full attendance in the seminars and workshops, together with any other requirements specified by the professor teaching the seminar, is necessary in order to be awarded credits. One full seminar or masterclass counts for 20 hours, one specialised workshop typically counts for 10 hours (unless otherwise specified).
For any more information on the requirements please check the SPS researchers' guide.
You must take either Introduction to Quantitative Methods or Intermediate Quantitative Methods (depending on your previous quantitative methods training) during the first two years of the doctoral programme.
Likewise, you must take either Introduction to Qualitative Methods or Intermediate Qualitative Methods (depending on your previous quantitative methods training) during the first two years of the doctoral programme.
In addition, researchers must take one of the four field seminars ("Sociology”, “Comparative Politics”, “Public Policy and Institutions”, “International Relations”) during their first year.