University of Helsinki
Dear PhD candidates and doctoral supervisors!
The Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences wishes everybody welcome back – hopefully the beginning of the new academic year has been safe and smooth for you all.
The university is finally beginning to open up after 18 months of severe restrictions: October will be a transition period and in November, we will begin to enter some form of new normal, although there will still be a lot of online work. This means there will be more people on campus again, and more events will be live or a mixture of live and online.
Most of the teaching, including all courses organized by HYMY, will continue online until the end of the year. If there are changes in that, the teacher will inform registered participants in good time. In the spring, teaching will be organized on-site. Planning that transition will take time, so please be patient: you will eventually learn exactly where your on-site events will be held.
EVENTS
DOCTORAL CONFERENCE 14-15 OCTOBER
The main event is the Doctoral conference: “Politics of Analysis: Causality, Ethics, Institutions” October 14 and 15. Find out more and register by Monday 11th here
This is organised jointly by SOS and PYAM and will be on Zoom: make sure to mark it in your calendars for October 14 and 15. Two world-class keynotes will be given: Iddo Tavory and Deirdre McCloskey. There will also be two panel discussions, one on research ethics and another on publishing, as well as five presentation sessions with PhD candidates talking about their work.
GUEST LECTURE SERIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Secondly, the doctoral programme is launching a new lecture series with invited speakers, Guest Lectures in Social Sciences. The confirmed events include:
- October 8th: Camelia Dewan, University of Oslo, “Misreading the Bengal Delta: Climate Change, Development and Livelihoods in Coastal Bangladesh“. Zoom link here
- November 8th: Hartmut Rosa, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, “Social Acceleration, Alienation, and Resonance: Towards a New Understanding of Modernity“. Live event, Unionikatu 35 lecture hall
- November 12th:Hege Høyer Leivestad, Stockholm University, “The port revisited: Cargo capitalism at the Strait of Gibraltar“. Zoom link here
- November 26th: Roope Karonen, University of Helsinki, “Rethinking rationality: ecological rationality, rules of thumb, and cultural evolution“. Zoom link/ lecture venue TBA
- December 10th: Biao Xiang, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Anthropology, “Re-socialization: trends and demands in
contemporary economy“. Zoom link here - December 10th: Nico Carpentier, Charles University in Prague. Lecture title and Zoom link/ lecture venue TBA
More information and updates on the series will be posted on the programme mailing list. The series also welcomes suggestions for speakers, so feel free to drop us names you would like to hear from!
WRITING EVENINGS ON THURSDAYS
Thirdly, writing evenings organized by the Doctoral School HYMY continue on Thursdays (4–7 pm, in Finnish). Writing evenings are open to all University of Helsinki doctoral students regardless of faculty or position. The aim of the meetings is to come together to work on your own projects and share your ideas and concerns during the writing breaks. To sign up, please register
here: https://www.lyyti.fi/reg/Kirjoitusiltamat2021
INFORMATION CORNER: THESSA, SISU AND UNISPORT
- We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind you about Thessa and thesis committees. In Thessa, you can plan your studies and research, but most importantly, you create a supervision plan, establish your thesis committee and submit your annual report there. More information on Thessa and thesis committees in the study guide.
- Having problems with Sisu? Don’t worry – help is available! Remember to check the Sisu instructions for doctoral candidates. Especially this listing of different types of applications may be useful. If you don’t know what to do, please contact the services for doctoral education: questions related to course enrolment, recognition of prior learning and other teaching-related questions may be directed to hymy-doc@helsinki.fi, while the training officers of your faculty will help you with issues related to study modules and graduation at valt-postgrad@helsinki.fi.
- Don’t forget to take care of yourself. To help out, Unisport offers FREE “Carefree shoulders” breaks on Mondays at 12.30 and on Wednesdays at 13.00. More information: Carefree Shoulders | UniSport.
Finally: the Doctoral Programme is here for you. This is your doctoral programme: if you have questions, problems, hopes, ideas, needs that relate to your research or studies, please get in touch with your supervisors, the steering committee members or planning officer Tuuli Holttinen.
Wishing you a great autumn semester,
The Steering Committee of the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences
Eeva Luhtakallio
Sarah Green
Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman
Kris Clarke
Mikko Myrskylä
Ilkka Pietilä
Johanna Sumiala
Keshia Dsilva
Jenni Savonen
and planning officer Tuuli Holttinen