Introduction
Starting a PhD research project is an exciting but also sometimes daunting step in your PhD journey. In this course you will work on developing a research proposal, aimed at helping you with this first step. We will examine and discuss the different components of a research proposal, see how they are interrelated, and through a combination of lectures and peer-to-peer interaction work on developing a kick-start for your PhD research project.
Course information
ECTS: 2.5
Number of sessions: 5
Hours per session: 3
Key Facts & Figures
- Type
- Course
- Instruction language
- English
What will you achieve?
- You will be able to develop a focus in your research topic and start developing the boundaries of what your project will be about, by formulating a research objective and a set of research questions.
- You will be able to set up a coherent research design, fitting with the topic and focus of your research.
- You will understand the logic of a research proposal, its various components and how these components can support your project.
- You will engage in discussions with peers that allow you to further define and better understand your thinking process and help you focus on the specifics of your topic and simultaneously help others to do the same.
- You will be able to draft a full research proposal that can function as a starting point for your research journey.
Start dates
Session 1 Session 2 |
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Session descriptions
In this session we introduce the topic of research in social science in general, the empirical cycle and the use of conceptualisations. We dive into the main components of a research proposal, look into objectives and research questions as well as other component related to the conceptual design of the research proposal.
Here we delve into the technical design of your proposal, look into the choices for methodologies related to your research focus and discuss the planning of your PhD project.
In this session we will go deeper into the steps from conceptualising toward the technical design of your proposal. We will therefore shed light on the issue of operationalisation specifically.
This session critically discusses the use of normative empirical concepts in research. These are concepts that have both a descriptive and an evaluative dimension. They can relate to quantitative research questions or methods (for example, the concepts of ‘Gross Domestic Product’ or ‘economic growth’) or to qualitative research questions or methods (for example, ‘work’ or ‘integration’).
This session is fully dedicated to presenting your work and discussing the work of others. Peer-to-peer interactions that will have happened throughout the other sessions in combination with individual developments, will culminate into a (more or less) complete set-up of a research proposal.
Entry level and relevance
This course is specifically useful for and geared towards PhD candidates that are at the very beginning of their PhD journey.
About the instructor
Dr. Peter Scholten Dr. Peter Scholten is a governance and sustainability expert with a background in Social and Political Sciences of the Environment. He is a steering committee member of the DE-RISC project, where he leads research on Data communities, data stakeholders and data owners in the processes of data sharing. He also engages in research and practice related to the sharing and co-creation of urban knowledge, as part of the CLOSER CITIES initiative. He holds a PhD in water governance and specializes in governance, integrated planning and leadership strategies in complex decision-making environments. Peter collaborates with a large variety of academic and societal organizations across the globe. He teaches and supervises PhD’s in the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences & Humanities of Erasmus University Rotterdam and in the Radboud Global PhD program on Sustainability Challenges.
Prof. dr. Irene van Staveren Irene van Staveren is professor of pluralist development economics at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is an out-of-the-box economist working on topics such as ethics, inequality, social cohesion and gender. She coordinates the cross-country database Indices of Social Development, has a widely followed mooc ‘Introduction to Economic Theories’, and is member of the thinktank Sustainable Finance Lab. In addition, Irene is a columnist for newspaper Trouw.
Contact
- Enrolment-related questions: enrolment@egsh.eur.nl
- Course-related questions: scholten@ihs.nl
- Telephone: +31 (0)10 4082607 (Graduate School)
Facts & Figures
- Fee
- free for PhD candidates of the Graduate School
- € 575,- for non-members
- You can only enrol for one edition of this course.
- consult our enrolment policy for more information
- Tax
- Not applicable
- Application deadline
You can only enrol for one edition of this course.
- Offered by
- Graduate School
- Course type
- Course
- Instruction language
- English