Tag Archives: call

CfA: 2014 Berlin Summer School

I just received the call for applications for the 2014 Berlin Summer School in Social Sciences. It’s run by Humboldt University’s Graduate School and the Social Science Research Center (WZB).

The call for applications is on their website, and if you click again you can find the program in more detail. Sadly, the site is not as pretty as the poster:

summerschool2014

Links: Graduate Conferences; Betrayers’ Banquet; Blogging Awards; Compliance

Two calls for graduate conferences

Today, I’d like to share two calls for applications for graduate conferences:

  • First, our colleagues at the Graduate School of North American Studies hold a conference on “Trust Issues. Community, Contingency, and Security in North America”. It’ll take place here in Berlin on May 9 and 10, 2014. The full call is on their website, and you can apply until February 9.
  • Second, a group of graduate students at Georgetown’s Center for German and European Studies organizes the 2014 Transatlantic Policy Symposium on “Hot Wars and Cold Wars: Europe’s Near Abroad“. The deadline is on the coming Monday! Again, all information can be found on their website.

Then, there is an intriguing case of applied game theory. A company in London organizes an event called The Betrayers’ Banquet. For £ 99, you can spend an evening enjoying a “32 course banquet with an embedded implementation of the iterated prisoner’s dilemma”:

The event works as follows:

A banqueting table is set with 48 chairs, 24 on each side, at which players are seated at random. For a period of two hours, the food is served in small portions every fifteen minutes, and varies in quality; at the top end of the table, it is exquisite – food you could expect at a fancy restaurant. At the bottom end, the food is charitably described as unpalatable. In between, it is a spectrum between these two extremes.

At regular intervals, pairs of opposing diners are invited to play a round of the prisoner’s dilemma with each other; They are each provided with a small wooden coin with symbols on each side representing cooperation and betrayal, which they place on the table concealed under their palms, and then simultaneously reveal:

• If they both cooperate, then they are both moved up five seats towards the good food.
• If they both betray, they are both moved five seats down towards the worse food.
• If one betrays and one cooperates, the betrayer moves up ten seats, and other down ten seats.

If any of our readers were in London and willing to go, I’d love to hear their experiences. In the comments at Marginal Revolution (where I learned about this), the game designer chimes in: “People are cutthroat, especially when they’re drunk and hungry.”

Somehow I had missed that the Duck of Minerva crew has announced the 2014 Blogging Awards and Reception at ISA. Please make sure to nominate excellent bloggers and/or go to the show, which was a lot of fun last year.

Also at the Duck: Burcu Bayram discusses Lisa Martin’s recent article “Against Compliance”. This discussion is relevant for several of my colleagues and I hope we will be able to follow up on this… (yes, this is a hint to a certain co-blogger)

CfA: Berlin Summer School 2013

Berlin Summer School 2013

Just a quick reminder: Until March 25 you can apply for this year’s Berlin Summer School for Social Sciences! The call is open to PhD candidates, advanced MA students and “young Post-Docs”…

This summer school (“Linking Theory and Empirical Research”) is offered by Humboldt University’s Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Social Science Research Center WZB. Next to the overall theme, four specific fields are covered:

  • “Comparing Democracies: Competition, Institutions and Public Policies”
  • “Social Inequality, Conflict and Integration”
  • “The Dynamics of National and International Regimes”
  • “Culture and Knowledge in a Globalized World”

You’ll get two weeks of coursework with lecturers from the U.S. and Europe – and the chance to experience Berlin in summer, when it’s the most fun!

The call for applications is here (PDF), and you can also see the preliminary schedule for details (PDF). Fees are 450 Euro plus travel and accommodation.

PhD Pitch: Intro

PhD Pitch

Inspired by the concept of “elevator pitches” – where you present an idea to an important person you (supposedly) just met on the elevator – we’d like to introduce a series here on IR Blog: the PhD Pitch.

Admittedly, our version is neither based on chance nor does it involve any CEOs. But just as in MBA programs or at startup conferences, we invite you to present your project in a non-traditional way:

  • Find a way to describe your idea in less than 200 words
  • …that’s different from the abstract you used for that conference last month
  • Alternatively, make a video, info graphic, flow chart …. you name it
  • How can non-experts relate to it?
  • Why do you think it’s a fascinating project?
  • What would ideally happen once it’s published?

The “call for pitches” is open to current PhD candidates, prospective grad students, post-docs with a new project … well, anyone really. We’d love to hear from you!