New Opportunities

The New Doctoral School

In 2019 under the provisions of the new law on higher education and science, the GSSR plans to become the home of a new doctoral school with our partner Institutes in the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Institutes of Psychology and of Political Studies. Doctoral students recruited by the three Institutes to begin their studies in the academic year2019-20 will be members of a single interdisciplinary doctoral school. They will still defend their theses to be awarded doctorates in one of the four disciplines, but will enjoy the benefits of working in a broader interdisciplinary environment.

NCBiR project

Summer schools, study visits, development of an interdisciplinary programme of doctoral studies and provision of stipends for doctoral students are the main elements of the “Humanities and Social Sciences for Society and Enterprise” programme (NCBiR project) being implemented by the Graduate School for Social Research (GSSR) at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN) .

Recruitment to the 4 year interdisciplinary full-time doctoral programme was completed in September 2018.

The GSSR team attaches particular weight to enabling students with disabilities to undertake doctoral studies within the framework of the project.

The main aim of the project is to achieve the highest standards of quality of education in the doctoral programme of IFiS PAN’s Graduate School for Social Research (GSSR). The project runs from 01.-06.2018 to 31.05.2023.

Thanks to the project a new study programme is being developed in which students will have the opportunity  to shape their own individual path of study, working with professors and research teams  of IFiS PAN, and benefit from the Institute’s well-developed international network of contacts. The  new programme, besides giving a solid philosophical or sociological grounding is open to an interdisciplinary view of research problems. The project provides support for study trips abroad and for participation in three summer schools with programmes devised in cooperation with foreign scholars. Doctoral students joining the project will be provided with stipends helping them to concentrate on their own development. They will also be able to take advantage of other opportunities offered by IFiS PAN, such as participation in competitions for grants to carry out their own doctoral research.

Doctoral studies at the GSSR  are open to candidates who want to develop any area of contemporary philosophical problems as well as the history of philosophy. In particular research group investigations concern both continental philosophy together with its most contemporary currents concerning philosophy of politics, philosophy of culture, philosophical anthropology and philosophy of science as well as analytical philosophy, cognitive science, ancient and medieval thought. At the same time the School is open to bold and innovative currents in methods of theoretical research.

Similarly, we deal with all areas of sociological problems broadly understood, whether related to cultural studies and institutional approaches, or to social structure, big data and advanced qualitative and quantitative methods. To give one example among many possible profiles, we seek sociology applicants who seek to develop their methodological skills in quantitative research and learn to apply appropriately cross-country comparisons, multilevel modelling, response style, model selection, machine learning, latent variable modelling etc. in their substantive studies in various research fields. We also look for candidates devoted to cultural and institutional studies in various fields. Students with a degree in Sociology or in another related discipline (including social anthropology, ethnography, history, education studies, economics, psychology, and biology) are invited to apply.

The project “Humanities and Social Sciences for Society and Enterprise” is supported from European Funds within the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development (PO WER) priority axis III: Higher Education for the economy and development, Action 3.2 Doctoral studies. The Intermediate Body is the National Centre for Research and Development.

 

 

Individual study programme

What this means

Each PhD student will work together with their supervisor each academic year to agree a programme of individual study for the next twelve months. In addition to compulsory courses taught in GSSR students will be expected to join wherever possible a research project underway within the Institute (or, exceptionally, in an equivalent research centre).

 Building your individual programme

Your individual study programme should be designed to ensure you have the methodological skills and theoretical knowledge necessary for successful completion of  your doctoral research and, for those who choose, for your further academic career. These skills and knowledge will be gained by participation in taught courses and in the research work of the Institute.  On completion of the four years of the programme in addition to completion of your doctoral research you will have gained insight also into aspects of a research group’s work, such as elaboration of a concept and its realisation  by the different stages of proposal writing,  grant administration, preparation of work for publication, as well as the important ‘soft skills’ gained from working in a team.

The PhD programme lasts four years – the maximum period for such a programme normally allowed by Polish law (limited additional time is permitted for students interrupting their studies for the various reasons clearly specified in Ministerial regulations).

 

A preliminary list of projects willing to receive students is given below (see:  projects open to students in 2017-18)

 

 

Courses open to PhD students

Courses to be taught in English as part of the School’s doctoral programme

 in the academic year 2018-2019.

 

 Compulsory courses: Philosophy

  • Agata Bielik-Robson: 

Major Trends in Contemporary Humanities                                                                                                                      

  • Andrzej Leder:

Interpreting and constructing – working with a philosophical text..                                                                                    

  • Adam Lipszyc:

Word, Flesh and Subjectivity: Selected Notions of the Human in the 20th Century Philosophy

  • Szymon Wróbel :

2018-2019-Wrobel Philosophy in the Process of Making Concepts

Compulsory courses: sociology

  • Sławomir Kapralski:

Sociological theories: the tradition and current notions pt 1

Sociological theories: the tradition and current notions pt II

  • Zbigniew Karpiński, Marta Kołczyńska, Małgorzata Mikucka:

Quantitative methods of data analysis: statistical theory and good practices.

  • Piotr Binder, Marta Olcoń-Kubicka,:

Approaches to Qualitative Methods in Research Practice

  • Irina Tomescu-Dubrow, Josh Dubrow, Ilona Wysmulek,  Kinga Wysienska-Di Carlo: 

Empirical Research in the Social Sciences: Design, Implementation and Write-up (Part I) 

Part II: Reading and Writing in the Social Sciences (30 hours in Semester II)                                                                                               

 Courses offered in GSSR  in the MA  programme (open to PhD students):

  • Sławomir Kapralski (UP Krakow)– Social & Political Theory
  • Henryk Banaszak (U. Warsaw)– Research methods
  • Radosław Markowski (SWPS) – Political sociology
  • Andrzej Rychard (IFiS PAN)– Economy & society I
  • Michał Federowicz/Michał Sitek (IFiS PAN) – Political economy of policy reform
  • Magdalena Grabowska (IFiS PAN))/Joanna Regulska (UC Davis)– Women’s political identity in making
  • Sławomir Kapralski (UP Krakow)– Theories of Culture
  • Annamaria Orla-Bukowska (Jagellonian U.)– The Holocaust and its cultural meaning
  • Zdzisław Mach (Jagellonian U.)– Culture and Nationalism
  • Andrzej Rychard (IFiS PAN) – Sociology of Institutional Change
  • Marta Olcoń Kubicka (IFiS PAN)– Qualitative methods
  • Henryk Banaszak (U. Warsaw)– Quantitative Methods
  • Sławomir Kapralski (UP Krakow)– Contemporary Social Theory
  • Michał Federowicz/Michał Sitek (IFiS PAN)– Economy and Society II
  • Sławomir Kapralski (UP Krakow)– The Roma in Central/Eastern Europe
  • Edwin Bendyk (Collegium Civitas)– e-Media
  • Paweł Załęski (U. Warsaw)– Civil Society in Theory and Practice
  • Peter Przytuła (U. Minnesota)– Mass Communication and Society
  • Peter Przytuła (U. Minnesota)– Media Ethics
  •  Jan Kubik  (Rutgers)– Beyond political Culture
  • Leslie Holmes (U.Melbourne)– Organised Crime and Human Trafficking
  • Leslie Holmes (U.Melbourne)– Corruption
  • Jan Pakulski (University of Tasmania) Elites and Leaders in Contemporary Politics
  • Radosław Markowski (SWPS) Backsliding to Authoritarianism

 Courses taken outside GSSR

Course may also be taken at other Higher Education institutions in Poland or abroad (Erasmus+, Fulbright etc).

 

Non-Discrimination Policy

Our institution does not discriminate on the basis of (including but not limited to) national or ethnic origin, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation in administering its admission and education policies, financial aid and other school-administered programmes.

Projects open to students in 2018-19

Currently 26 research p;rojects in either Philosophy or Sociology are open to particpation by PhD students