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Call for Submissions: SOAS-Oxford Graduate Student Workshop, “New Directions in Research on Myanmar”

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    Call for Submissions: SOAS-Oxford Graduate Student Workshop: “New Directions in Research on Myanmar”
    11-14 June 2018

    Please feel free to share this call widely, especially among graduate students from Myanmar. This is an excellent opportunity to become better integrated into a global community of scholars studying Myanmar.

    Hosted by SOAS, University of London and the Programme on Modern Burmese Studies, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford

    Submission deadline: 2 March 2018
    Notification of acceptance/rejection: 12 March 2018
    Final draft deadline: 25 May 2018
    Workshop dates: 11-14 June 2018

    Background

    The “New Directions in Research on Myanmar” Graduate Student Workshop is a rare opportunity for a small group of graduate students to workshop in-progress writing with peers and faculty from a range of disciplines and universities in the UK focusing on Burma Studies.

    We welcome submissions from PhD and Masters students from any university in the world at any stage of their research. For those at an early stage in their research, submissions should clearly state the problem or research question the student aims to address, while providing a theoretical, methodological, and conceptual foundation for the proposed work. Students who have begun research or who are writing up should concretely describe the work undertaken, while providing necessary context for readers from a variety of disciplines. Standalone articles, conference papers, and dissertation chapters will all be accepted, if edited to fit within the requirements listed below. Students just beginning their studies are welcome to apply to present a poster at a dedicated poster session attended by all of the faculty and student participants.

    Because the Graduate Student Workshop will require a considerable time-commitment—both in the development of the workshop paper and in the reading and reviewing of other participants’ papers—in order to be considered, interested graduate students must submit a workshop paper proposal, a letter of support from their advisor/supervisor, and a brief statement confirming their commitment to attend and prepare for the May workshop.

    Participants should also expect to read and comment on a small number of papers in the workshop. Timely submission of all papers is therefore an expectation of participation and acceptance in order not to inconvenience others tasked with reading your paper.

    Submission Guidelines

    The initial submission should be a one-page (single-spaced) proposal of the paper the student intends to develop for presentation at the workshop. We do not require final drafts of workshop papers to be submitted at this stage. It is also not necessary to include a bibliography at this stage.

    The one-page proposal should include key details regarding the research question and potential contribution of the research within the student’s discipline, and an indication of how the student’s work might advance scholarly knowledge of Burma/Myanmar at large.

    Multi-sited or comparative research on Burma/Myanmar will be welcomed. For those papers that propose comparative research across two or more countries, for proposals to be accepted, the research to be addressed at the workshop must be oriented clearly to the field of Burma/Myanmar studies.

    Along with a one-page paper proposal, interested students should also ask a supervisor/advisor or other faculty member in their department to submit a short letter of recommendation that confirms the student’s preparedness for the Workshop. All submission materials should be sent to mbs@sant.ox.ac.uk.

    Review Process

    Students who have a clearly-developed research proposal or who are in the process of producing a thesis or dissertation— and whose work is preliminary enough that it can be influenced by participation in a Graduate Student Workshop— will receive the strongest consideration. For this reason, the submission of previously published papers, submitted theses/dissertations, or completed research proposals is discouraged.

    Students should indicate their field of study when submitting their proposal in order to direct it to the most appropriate reviewers. Students pursuing interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary research should select their primary field or graduate program department.

    The review of submissions will take into account the quality of the one-page proposal, the student’s progress through their graduate program, and the recommendation letter. In order to ensure a diversity of disciplines, backgrounds, and paper types, such factors will also be considered.  

    Funding and Logistics

    Lunches and dinners will be provided for all participants during the Workshop apart from Monday 11th June in London, when participants will be free to make their own arrangements in order to explore London and make the most of their time there in a non-structured way.

    We will also do our best to help organise free or low-cost accommodation options for attendees. However, this is likely to be dependent upon local students making their floors and sofas available. Some participants may prefer to make their own individual alternative arrangements and funding at this stage is unlikely to be available.

    Participants are expected to request support for their travel from their home institution or other sources. A limited number of travel scholarships will be available, with priority given to participants from Myanmar.

    Questions:

    Please contact the Programme on Modern Burma Studies at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford with any questions:

    mbs@sant.ox.ac.uk
    (+44) 01865 274531

    Workshop convenors

    Dr Mandy Sadan, Reader in the History of South East Asia, SOAS University of London

    Dr Matthew J Walton, Aung San Suu Kyi Senior Research Fellow in Modern Burmese Studies, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford

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