PHILAPS. Philosophy, History, Literature, Anthropology, Politics, Sociology

The interdisciplinary PHILAPS seminar is an open space for academic exchange between social scientists and humanities scholars across Eurasia. We hope to address diverse intellectual challenges transcending disciplinary boundaries. That said PHILAPS would by no means ignore present national and political ruptures. Trustful dialogue starts with engaged talking through attitudes, approaches, and data accumulated within particular research projects. Seminar participants are brought together by attentiveness to different languages both academically and literally.

Regular PHILAPS sessions are held every third week till June 2023 starting on January 18th at 17.30 CET

The overall purpose is to help regular seminar participants and visiting scholars improve their preliminary articles by receiving detailed feedback from an interdisciplinary group of peers. The fundamental premise is “work in progress,” which emphasizes that the author is not providing the finished product and is willing to cooperate with others at an early stage of the project. We help with strengthening main ideas, fixing flaws, and improving writing style. Typically, we discuss preliminary drafts of articles, book chapters, and even complete compact volumes. The second goal of seminar participants is to fine-tune an efficient yet friendly and collaborative structure, as well as to improve their ability to provide quality comments on each other’s papers.

What do we do?

The interdisciplinary PHILAPS seminar focuses on the humanities and social sciences and serves as an environment for emerging and mid-career scholars to debate drafts of research papers. In an informal setting, PHILAPS provides a venue for academics to discuss ideas and exchange comments on ongoing research. The seminars are usually held every three weeks and allow researchers from multiple fields to present their work. These meetings are designed specifically for relocated researchers who may face additional hurdles in maintaining academic communication. PHILAPS facilitates collaboration between researchers who would not have had the opportunity to meet before. Conversations in these multidisciplinary seminars tend to be more casual than in standard academic contexts such as lectures or conference presentations. This allows participants to connect with each other’s ideas without feeling obligated to adhere to a rigid structure or format. As a result, these conversations might yield surprising insights and connections across topics that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Participants can enhance their academic writing skills by attending these seminars and witnessing how others present their work and obtain suggestions. The participation of professionals from many disciplines provides excellent guidance on research methodologies and strategies, which is especially advantageous for emerging researchers. Overall, this initiative focused on the humanities and social sciences provides a chance for relocated scholars of all levels of experience to interact while obtaining significant insight into new perspectives on their fields of study.

The seminar working languages are Belarusian, German, French, English, Russian, Ukrainian or other
languages depending on the participants.

Organization

Organizers: Timur Atnashev, Vasilisa Borzova, Vladislav Kalinin and Peter Safronov

The seminar is supported by the University of New Europe, Institute of Slavic Studies at Technische Universität Dresden and the Theodor Schanin Centre.

How to register

To register for the PHILAPS sessions please contact Peter Safronov.