WTMC Writeshop (formerly known as Dissertation Day), November 23rd, 2017
Restaurant Claar, Voor Clarenburg 7, Utrecht
On Thursday, November 23rd, 2017, WTMC will again organize a Writeshop, formerly known as Dissertation Day. The Writeshop is meant for WTMC members who are in the final phase of their PhD.
This is your chance, not only to receive comprehensive comments on your own work, but also to read work of your fellow PhD students. By carefully reading the work of others in order to give feedback you can learn a lot about writing. At the Writeshop we also discuss more general issues around finishing dissertations, and what to do with them once they are done.
We are very happy to announce that Sergio Sismondo will act as our senior discussant this year. Sismondo is editor of Social Studies of Science. He will also discuss with all participants pitfalls and challenges of writing an STS-PhD-thesis. Sergio is Professor of Philosophy and Sociology at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. His current research is on the political economy of pharmaceutical knowledge, focusing particularly on industry influences on medical research and its dissemination. He also worked on questions concerning realism and constructivism.
He is the author of An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and a number of other general and philosophical works in STS, amongst which Science Without Myth: On Constructions Reality, and Social Knowledge (SUNY, 1996) and, co-authored with physicist Boris Castel, The Art of Science (Broadview, 2003). He has edited journal issues on Practices of Modeling and Simulation (Science in Context, 1999), and Intersections of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Research (Social Studies of Science, 2004). Sismondo is currently editor of the journal Social Studies of Science.
The idea of the Writeshop is as follows. Each participant sends in a chapter or article that will be part of the PhD manuscript. During the meeting, each participant very briefly introduces her/his work. Two discussants then provide comments – a fellow participant and our senior discussant. The author has an opportunity to respond to these comments before the discussion is opened to everyone. Each paper is discussed for a total of 55 minutes. Sergio will act as discussant of five papers. When more than 5 PhDs register, a second senior discussant will be added to the team.
This Writeshop will be chaired by Bernike Pasveer ([email protected]) and Govert Valkenburg ([email protected]), PhD programme coordinators of WTMC.
The word limit for contributions is 10,000 words. The manuscript must be academic work-in-progress (i.e. not already published). Do not worry if your text is not perfect yet: this is precisely why you want to discuss it in this forum. The draft should be well enough developed so your readers can understand the argument and the material, in order to get more specific and helpful feedback. Make sure your paper includes a short introduction, explaining how the piece fits into your PhD, which journal you plan to send it to, or any other relevant details to help the reader understand your plans. Depending on the number of participants, the day may last from 10 AM until 5 PM, and will be followed by dinner (paid for by WTMC). Dinner is usually finished by 8 pm.
Contributions must be sent to Elize Schiweck ([email protected] ) by 26 October 2017. She will then distribute all of the chapters/articles and send them to participants prior to the meeting so that everyone has time to read all of the chapters.
To reserve your place, please complete this Google form no later than 29 September 2017.
