CALL for PAPERS: 3rd ASCN Annual Conference (ascn.ch)

“Political Transformation and Social Change in the South Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Perspective” - 21-22 June 2013, Tbilisi - Georgia

(ascn.ch) The Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN) is pleased to announce its 3rd Annual ASCN Conference that will take place this year in Tbilisi, Georgia on 21 and 22 June 2013.

Content and Objectives
The conference aims to gather junior scholars and researchers from various disciplines of the social sciences (political science, sociology, anthropology, etc.) involved with the South Caucasus. More specifically, the conference will address the following points of interest:
• It will provide opportunities for researchers vested in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan to engage, network, exchange and discuss their research projects, papers and findings;
• It will provide a forum for discussion regarding the contradictions and ambivalences of the transformation process in the South Caucasus;
• It will provide a forum for discussion regarding the challenges social science researchers in the South Caucasus are confronted with.
 
Call for Papers
Deadline for the submission of abstracts (300 words): 12 February 2013
Eligibility
• PhD students and recent PhD graduates (2009 or later) dealing with Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan who are eager to present and discuss their research work (especially current PhD projects and/or research results) with colleagues from the region and beyond.
 
The papers to be presented must deal specifically with one of the above-mentioned countries. Papers with a comparative dimension including at least one of the three countries are also accepted.
 
Topics
Proposals must be linked to one of the following themes:
- Migration, IDPs, Diasporas and Social Inclusion
- Civil Society, Social Capital and Trust
- Media, Social Networks and Public Space
- State Structures, Regimes, Elites and Democratisation
- State Reforms, Public Policies and Governance
- Nationalism, Identities, Religious and Cultural Capital
- Social Change (Youth Identity, Youth Employment, Values Systems, Gender Politics, etc.)

Selected candidates will have the opportunity to present and discuss their papers in one of the thematic panels, wherein researchers involved in ASCN research projects will also present their research results. For more information about current ASCN research projects, please consult the ASCN website, section ‘Research’.

Submission Instructions
All interested scholars are requested to submit an abstract (no more than 300 words) of their paper together with a short biographical statement (including author, affiliation, postal address, phone number and e-mail address) and a CV (maximum 2 pages). Applicants are requested to mention into which of the proposed topics the abstract would fit. Submissions must be sent no later than 12 February 2013 to info@ascn.ch and to jan.kreuels@unifr.ch with the following email subject: ASCN Annual Conference 2013. All documents have to be in English and need to be merged into a single PDF file. The result of the selection process will be announced in the beginning of March 2013.

Selected candidates will then be invited to submit full papers (5,000 words) by 3 June 2013. 

Venue, Accommodation and Transport
The ASCN programme will cover travel and accommodation expenses for all selected participants. Opportunities for co-financing will arise should the travel costs in individual cases exceed the average expenses per participant attending the conference.
The selected participants will be informed about the programme, the specific conference panels and the format of the paper to submit, as well as organisational details, in due time. 
 
Timeline
• Application deadline: 12 February 2013
• Selection of abstracts: beginning of March 2013
• Submission of papers: 3 June 2013
• Papers online on conference website: 12 June 2013
• Conference: 21-22 June 2013
 

Websitewww.ascn.ch, "Events" section
Further Information
Denis Dafflon, ASCN Programme Coordinatorinfo@ascn.ch; denis.dafflon@unifr.ch

  

About ASCNASCN is a programme aimed at promoting the social sciences and humanities in the South Caucasus (primarily Georgia and Armenia). Its different activities foster the emergence of a new generation of talented scholars. Promising junior researchers receive support through research projects, capacity-building trainings and scholarships. The programme emphasizes the advancement of individuals who, thanks to their ASCN experience, become better integrated in international academic networks. The ASCN programme is coordinated and operated by the Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe (IICEE) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). It is initiated and supported by Gebert Rüf Stiftung.

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Denis Dafflon
Programme Coordinator
ACADEMIC SWISS CAUCASUS NET (ASCN)
University of Fribourg / Interfaculty Institute for Central and
Eastern Europe (IICEE)
Bd de Pérolles 90
1700 Fribourg/Switzerland
Phone: +41 26 300 79 82
Mobile: +41 79 303 43 44
E-mail: denis.dafflon@unifr.ch
Website: www.ascn.ch