PhD candidates from universities around the world are invited to participate in the first annual doctoral seminar of the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. The seminar is planned to take place over three days, 20, 21, 22 October 2021. The seminar will provide an opportunity to doctoral researchers for networking with their colleagues and with senior academics, to gain experience in presenting research to a scholarly audience, and to acquire practical skills for their studies and future careers. They can expect substantive feedback on both their oral presentations and written work.
This year’s seminar will be held online and not in person. The seminar will consist of presentations by doctoral candidates as well as sessions delivered by experts of both a practical and theoretical nature of relevance to post-graduate research and academic careers.
This call for proposals is addressed to doctoral researchers working in the areas on which the work and activities of the Siracusa Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights are focused. It is expected that the seminar will be of interest to PhD candidates whose research work engages with the fields of international criminal law, international human rights and law and international humanitarian law, as well as with human rights and criminal justice at the domestic level. The organisers will endeavour to plan the sessions along thematic lines, to the extent possible. It is hoped that there will be a sufficient number of papers so that thematic sessions may be organised on the following subjects: protection of the environment, participation in international crimes, racial discrimination, protection of cultural property, and relationships between the fields of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law. There is no intent to exclude presentations on other subjects.
PhD candidates at all stages in their research are invited to submit proposals for presentations at the seminar. A presentation will consist of a twenty-minute talk followed by ten to fifteen minutes of feedback from participating academics as well as peers. Appropriate publication by the Siracusa Institute is contemplated for better papers. Attendance and participation from doctoral candidates who do not present papers is welcomed and expected.
Participants should not endeavour to present a summary of their thesis but rather to develop an aspect of their work, or even a topic of interest that falls outside the frame of the thesis itself as if they were involved in a conference or annual meeting of a professional academic association.
Proposals shall consist of no more than 200 words. The deadline for submission is July 4th 2021. They should be sent to Assia Buonocore at the Siracusa Institute: [email protected].
Those doctoral researchers whose proposals are accepted for presentation at the Seminar will be notified by late July. The selection will be made by the Steering Committee of the Seminar, consisting of the following scholars: Prof. Shane Darcy (National University of Ireland Galway); Prof. Neha Jain (European University Institute); Prof. Joseph Powderly (Leiden University); Prof. Sarah Nouwen (European University Institute); Prof. William Schabas (Middlesex University); Prof. Dire Tladi (University of Pretoria); Prof. Jan Wouters (Leuven University).
There is no fee for participation in the seminar. The proceedings will be conducted in English.
