Crafting Doctoral Projects in Philosophy

Workshop, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven (BE). 6 February 2025.

Strategies and Realities

The workshop will explore various approaches to conceptualising, shaping, and crafting new research projects within the expansive domain of philosophy and its historical development. Adopting a hands-on approach, participants will engage directly with research design using a dedicated worksheet, available for download via the button below. These materials will be distributed to all participants and will serve as the basis for a day-long discussion throughout the workshop. Each session will critically address the core requirements of funding bodies (especially the FWO), organisations, and individual academic institutions, offering participants a comprehensive understanding of how to structure a successful research proposal.

Registration and attendance

The workshop is open to all interested students at KU Leuven, particularly prospective applicants to PhD programmes. Registration is required. To register, students need to write an email to either Russ Friedman (russell.friedman[at]kuleuven.be) or Nicola Polloni (nicola.polloni[at]unime.it) by 20 December 2024.

Participants are kindly requested to download the worksheet (using the button below), complete it, and send it to Nicola Polloni (nicola.polloni[at]unime.it) by 27 January 2025. Please note that this deadline is final.

Completed worksheets will be anonymised and shared with the registered participants. These materials will form the basis of the workshop discussion, and all participants are expected to:

  1. Read the worksheets.
  2. Analyse their potential strengths and weaknesses.
  3. Provide valuable and constructive feedback during the sessions.

The workshop programme will be published in January 2025. It will run approximately from the morning until the late afternoon.

Worksheet

You can download the worksheet using the button below. Please submit your completed worksheet in DOCX format when submitting your materials.

worksheet download

Programme

The workshop will be held in Room A (ground floor) of the Institute of Philosophy. Coffee and lunch breaks will take place in the Raadzaal (first floor). The workshop is in-person only and will not be streamed online

9.15–9.30: General Introduction and introductions

9.30–11.00: Envisioning Research: Aims, objectives, and methods

11.00–11.30: Coffee break (Raadzaal)

11.30–12.30: Surviving Your Project: A look into the subtleties of data management (with Sam Urlings)

12.30– 14.00: Lunch break (Raadzaal)

14.00–15.30: Designing Research: Work plans, outputs, and risk management

15.30–16.30: Making an Impression: Opening paragraphs, abstracts, titles

16.30–17.00: Coffee break (Raadzaal)

17.00–18.00: Getting Funded: Successful stories (Open discussions with Li Chen, Yanfu Chen, Shahab Khademi, Agné Valatkaité, Sybrand Veeger, and Nicola Zetti).

18.00: Workshop Closure