WTMC Writeshop 25 February 2026

On Wednesday, February 25, 2026 WTMC will organize the next Writeshop. WTMC writeshops are meant for WTMC PhDs who have completed at least four training events. A training event is a summer school or an (online) workshop.

WTMC Writeshops are a splendid occasion to receive comprehensive comments on your own work, but also to read work of your fellow PhD candidates. 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 journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations, and what to do with them once they are done.

We are very happy to announce that Renate Baumgartner will act as our senior discussant this time.

Renate Baumgartner is Assistant Professor of Participatory AI at the Athena Institute of the VU Amsterdam. Her research focuses on fostering inclusive AI development through participatory methods, particularly in medicine and healthcare. She is also interested in exploring how AI can enhance participation. Renate’s perspectives are informed by (feminist) science and technology studies, as well as sociology (including sociology of categorization, sociology of knowledge, and sociology of risk and uncertainty). Renate has a background in sociology and gender studies and holds a PhD in pharmaceutical science from the University of Vienna.  Prior to her current role, she worked as a project manager in clinical development and held a tenured post-doctoral position at the Center for Gender and Diversity Research at the University of Tübingen. Renate has published in the fields of science and technology studies, sociology of sexuality, medicine, and life sciences.

The idea of the Writeshop is as follows. Each participant sends in a draft chapter or article that will be part of the PhD manuscript. Authors are also invited to provide a short (i.e. max. 300 word) contextualization of the draft. During the meeting, two discussants provide comments – a fellow participant and our senior discussant. The author then 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.

The Writeshop will be hosted at the VU in Amsterdam and can be expected to last most of the day as well as the early evening, including a shared dinner to round off the programme (ending no later than 19:30). The exact timing will depend on the registrations received and will be announced to registered participants a few weeks before the event. This Writeshop will be chaired by Alexandra Supper.

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 would 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 which explains 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 the text.

Registration for the Writeshop will be possible between January 15 and January 30, 2026. Registered participants are expected to submit a draft chapter or article by February 5, 2026, so that they can be circulated to all participants prior to the meeting and that everyone has time to prepare their commentary.