Graduate symposium – Doing International Political Sociology

International Political Sociology (IPS) has now established itself as an interdisciplinary approach to International Relations that problematizes the tendency of traditional IR approaches to marginalize social processes. In this, the broad research network Doing IPS, with its multiple national nodes and yearly seminar series for PhD students, is exemplary for IPS’ plurality in research and the vibrancy of the sub-discipline.

The first Graduate Symposium on Doing International Political Sociology at the University of Groningen on 4-5 June 2025 offers Early Career Scholars (ERC) a space to collaborate across the national nodes and to engage with the question of what – in all its plurality – the doing of IPS entails for early career researchers today.

We invite contributions from Early Career Scholars from IR and adjacent fields, such as anthropology, sociology, STS and human geography, that engage with (but are not limited to) the following themes and topics:

• Ethnography, fieldwork, and archival research
• Conceptions of planetary politics and multispecies politics
• Science and technology studies, data practices Knowledge and post-truth
• Security and surveillance
• Algorithmic politics
• Critical race theory and global justice
• Coloniality
• Queer, trans, and feminist theory
• Critical methodologies (e.g. critical making, multi-modal methods, design)
• Movement: how to study/ conceptualize movement?

The two-day symposium will have a dynamic structure that reflects the purpose of Doing IPS as a research field, using the plurality of research to think what ‘doing’ IPS is, while creating space to collaborate and exchange on common themes that are particularly confronting as ERCs, such as teaching IPS and interdisciplinary research.

The symposium will be held from the morning on 4 June until lunchtime 5 June 2025 at the University of Groningen. On the first day, participants will have the opportunity to present their research in a panel-setting and receive feedback from senior scholars and other participants. On the second day, dynamic and collaborative events will encourage collective discussions on how and why early career research can contribute to the discussion in and around doing IPS.

The deadline for applications is 4 April. Please submit your abstract of 300 words max. to Federico Petris (f.p.petris rug.nl) and Katharina Wezel (k.wezel rug.nl). Acceptance emails will be sent by 11 April 2025.

Thanks to the generous funding of the Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Cultures (ICOG), two buffet lunches and two nights in shared accommodation can be covered for participants. Please indicate in your e-mail if you will make use of the shared accommodation option or if you would need support for additional travel. The latter may become lISavailable but is not yet guaranteed.