ECTS count : 5 points
22 to 25 October 2009, the 18th Nordic Symposium in Tourism and Hospitality Research will take place in Esbjerg, Denmark, hosted by SDU’s Center for Tourism, Innovation and Culture. Traditionally the Nordic Symposium has been accompanied by an international PhD course, with conference speakers and local research capacities as instructors. This year is no exception, and we are pleased to send out this call for participation in the course that will take place on 21 and 22 October at SDU’s Esbjerg campus.
Participants should be in the process of doing research for a PhD (or doing literature studies and, if relevant, planning empirical work). The idea is that PhD students should present their work in progress and get constructive feedback on their work. Furthermore, we are planning the core of the course around the positioning of individual PhD projects within the wider area of Nordic research on tourism and hospitality. This is based on the observation that peers' enactment of PhD work often depends heavily on their own position within the (multidisciplinary and wide ranging) research area – and for a specialist-to-be really getting into depth with some corner of the field during the PhD studies, that can be really confusing at times.
Globally, we have an advantage compared to others due to the fact that Nordic research have long and solid traditions for methodological pluralism - especially when it comes to more qualitative research, case studies and triangulation of methods within the single PhD project. Apart from the academic positioning, we're also planning to focus on what make the project special in relation to first the Nordic tourism and hospitality industry and second the ways that tourism is evaluated and supported by research – perhaps discovering some common ground?
During the course, all participants will present their paper, and face questions, from fellow students and opponents. Also the instructors will be asked to present examples of their own ongoing research and place it in a wider scientific context and/or argue why it’s important to
contemporary (Nordic) tourism. The curriculum for the course includes volume 4 to 8 of the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism and Nordic Tourism, Issues and Cases by Hall, Müller and Saarinen (Aspects of Tourism, 2009) and/or other relevant material. More details to be given on the course web site.
Participants in the workshop are expected to send an extended abstract of between 1500 and 2000 words (including references), describing the central questions and objectives of their project, some reflections on the relation to current academic discourse and trends, and preferably also include an assessment of how their work is expected to contribute to their field/sub-discipline. Key references must be listed and referred to in a meaningful way. A full paper of 8,000-10,000 words must be submitted by 1st September, and will be read critically by at least two other participants and one supervisor. A revised version of the paper, based on oral and text feedback must be submitted by 1st December, and (if of acceptable standard) will be published electronically.
Please note, that when registering for the PhD course, you also register for the Symposium, and that you are therefore allowed – and encouraged – to submit a paper there as well. Especially if you have ongoing or almost-finished research to report on. Also note separate submission of papers for the PhD course and for the conference sessions. Participation in the symposium is an integrated part of the course, since participants will have to reconsider the relevance and positioning of their own research relative to the state of Nordic tourism research presented at the symposium. There will be an assignment to contribute to an electronic forum on this issue in the PhD section of the INNOTOUR platform, in the form of a short essay and activity in the discussion there.
The PhD course is sponsored by the Danish Research School for Studies in Marine and Coastal Environment, Heritage and Sustainable Tourism (MAST)
Contact point for inquiries and submission of abstracts:
Post doc Niels Chr. Nielsen
SDU-Esbjerg
E-mail: ncn@sitkom.sdu.dk
For further information, see course web site