CIVICA PhD Panel Series - Winter Semester

14-01-2021

The Hertie School launches a series of PhD panels to connect early-stage researchers with senior academics to foster academic exchange and networks of academic expertise across CIVICA partner universities.

Upcoming PhD panels address the following topics:

Data Science and Public Policy
Climate Change and Human Rights
Public Administration and Decision-Making
EU Legitimacy and Trust

Each panel will give the opportunity to three PhD researchers from different partner universities to present their research to senior academics and other early-career researchers of the CIVICA network.

Doctoral researchers from CIVICA partners are invited to express their interest to present their research at one of the upcoming panels.

The panels are open to all PhD researchers, whether at their start of their PhD or more advanced in their career. Find more information on the panels below.

How to get involved?

As presenter

Proposals including a short abstract (of no more than 150 words) and a brief description of your profile should be sent by 29 January 2021. A paper is not required. Please indicate to which of the proposed sessions you are applying for. Questions and/or submissions should be directed to Diego A Salazar Morales (d.salazar(at)phd.hertie-school.org) and Franziska Loschert (f.loschert(at)transnationalstudies.eu).

General public

The event is open for scholars of the CIVICA network to attend. Please register via the following link (until two days before the event!) if you'd like to attend one or more PhD panel sessions.

Upcoming PhD panels

PhD Panel on Data Science and Public Policy (inaugural panel)

Date: Wednesday, 3 February 2021, 12-2 pm (CET)

Europe faces the challenge of digitalisation. While some countries are transiting towards internet governance, having incorporated novel technologies while making their governments more efficient and less bureaucratic, others have fallen behind. Linked to the unequal digitalisation processes, there is a growing concern regarding data privacy, its utilisation for policy purposes and how it can best substantiate effective policymaking while being respectful of citizens’ privacy. This session seeks to stimulate academic debate on the growing importance of big data for policymaking, and governance, more generally. It also aims to cast light to ethical dilemmas concerning individual data privacy and its implications.

Presenters

Sahil Deo, PhD researcher at Hertie School
Lucas Cardiell, PhD researcher at the European University Institute
Imre Bard, PhD researcher at the London School of Economics

Discussants

Prof. Joanna Bryson, PhD, Professor of Ethics and Technology at Hertie School
Dr. Agnieszka Jabłonowska, Max Weber Fellow of the European University Institute

PhD Panel on The Politics of Bureaucracy: Public Administration and Decision-Making

Date: Wednesday, 10 February 2021, 12-2 pm (CET)

State officials of the public administration are key players in democratic governance and the policy process, stretching from decision-making, policy formulation, and agenda-setting to policy output and evaluation. At the same time, bureaucracy itself is affected by political decision-making. This scenario is particularly challenging in the European context which exhibit different administrative traditions and varying relationships with the European Union. Considering these dynamics, this panel invites doctoral researchers to shed light on politico-administrative relations. How do political processes impact public administration, and vice versa?

Presenters

Rebecca Kirley, PhD researcher at Bocconi University
Anna Hundehege, PhD researcher at Hertie School

Discussants

Prof. Dr. Thurid Hustedt, Professor of Public Administration and Management
Prof. Dr. Marlene Jugl, Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Bocconi University

PhD Panel on Public Opinion, Trust and Legitimacy in the EU

Date: Tuesday, 16 February 2021, 12-2 pm (CET)

Legitimacy is central to the functioning of both national as well as supranational institutions such as the European Union. Citizen’s trust provide legitimacy to European integration and its (policy) institutions. The lack of social and political trust among the citizens may affect the legitimacy and therefore also the stability and problem-solving effectiveness of democratic regimes. Today the EU and other global governance institutions are more publicly contested than ever. Yet, there is no consensus whether the decline in support and trust is permanent or only of short-term nature. The Panel seeks to explore the role of trust and legitimacy in the EU’s multilevel political system. What explains citizens’ political and social trust in the EU and its institutions? And what are the implications of varying levels of citizens’ social and political trust for the legitimacy of the EU and its institutions?

Presenters

Eva-Maria Pirker, PhD researcher at Bocconi University
Andreea-Maria Pierșinaru, PhD Fellow at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration
Maria Uttenthal, PhD researcher at Hertie School

Discussants

Prof. Dr. Christine Reh, Professor of European Politics at Hertie School
Prof Dr. Claus Offe, Professor Emeritus of Political Sociology at Hertie School

PhD Panel on Human Rights and Climate Change

Date: Thursday, 25 February 2021, 12-2 pm (CET)

Climate change brings about important political and legal challenges to citizens and states around the globe. Worldwide, global warming impacts immigration dynamics, and affects populations globally in their accesses to basic services such as sanitation, health, and the guarantee of food supply chain. While current evidence points in particular to the Global South, most notably in agriculturally dependent countries, in developed countries climatic change represents an important economic challenge. This session aims at discussing the differing effects of climate change on policies and human rights worldwide.

Presenters

Larissa Bahmer, LLM Researcher at EUI and PhD researcher at Bucerius Law School
Daniel Muth, PhD researcher at Central European University
Juan Auz, PhD researcher at Hertie School

Discussants

Prof. Başak Çali, PhD, Professor of International Law at Hertie School
Prof. Miriam Allena, PhD, Associate Professor of Law at Bocconi University

CIVICA – The European University of Social Sciences is an alliance of eight leading European higher education institutions in the social sciences: Bocconi University (Italy), Central European University (Austria and Hungary), the European University Institute (Intergovernmental), the Hertie School (Germany), the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania), Sciences Po (France), the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden) and The London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom). One of the goals of the CIVICA alliance is to create an integrated space for early-stage researchers in the social sciences.

The PhD panel series is financed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).