Early Career Researchers Workshops (ECW) are linked to the next EISA Pan-European Conference taking place in September.

ECWs are one-day workshops organized by and for doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers who finished their PhD less than three years prior to the application deadline. Eight to twelve participants use the workshop to present and discuss their work. Early career workshops offer a collegial, supportive and safe environment for PhD candidates and Early career scholars to present their work and test their ideas and research findings.

All ECW participants are part of the PEC conference, therefore need to register and pay the registration fee.

It is with a great pleasure that we announce the Early Career Researchers Workshops that have been selected for 2023:

The Second Cold War:

US-China rivalry for global network hegemony

Organised by: Elisa Gambino (University of Manchester), Philip Nock (University of Bonn), Alice Politi (King’s College London)

Contact: elisa.gambino@manchester.ac.uk

This one-day interdisciplinary workshop brings together scholars in International Relations, International Political Economy, Geography, and Development Studies focused on US-China competition. Building on the work of the global collective of scholars Second Cold War Observatory (SCWO), the workshop introduces a novel conceptualisation of US-China rivalry, which is seen in a continuum with the First Cold War in terms of its challenging of the US-led international order. Based on this premise, this workshop’s contributions explore the dynamics of competition for centrality in a range of discrete, yet closely interrelated, networks crucial to geopolitics in the 21st century: infrastructure, digital, production, and finance. The workshop addresses the overarching question: How does US-China competition for global hegemony shape the 21st century’s most important networks?

How to Participate:

We welcome contributions from Early Career Scholars working on US-China rivalry in the digital, production, and finance fields. Participants will be invited to submit a 1000-word written contribution ahead of the workshop, which will feature four roundtables and two collaborative sessions aimed to the development of a special issue proposal on US-China rivalry.

 Deadline: 7th July 2023

Tentative schedule

Reshaping Perceptions:

Human-Nonhuman Systems in Security Contexts

Organised by: Klaudia Klonowska (Asser Institute/University of Amsterdam), Sofie van der Maarel (Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands &  Netherlands Defense Academy)

Contact: K.Klonowska@asser.nl ; sofie.vandermaarel@ru.nl

A growing body of literature in science and technology studies (STS) discusses the impacts of human-nonhuman systems on security practices (‘doing’). For instance, the impact of the integration of novel technologies such as biometric systems, drones, robotics, (semi-)autonomous vehicles on security practices is elaborately studied. This workshop, however, takes the road-less-traveled and explores the impacts on perceptions (‘seeing and knowing’) of human-nonhuman systems within the security realm.

Here, perceptions are considered as viewpoints or ways of ‘seeing’ that condition our understanding of the world. Central in this workshop are perceptions within and of security contexts, and the aim is to analyze the myriad ways in which such security perceptions are formed, (re)shaped, and stabilized in sociotechnical entanglements. Examples include considerations of how biometric technologies and surveillance impact the perceptions of migrant subjects and illegitimate migration or how big data filtering affects the perception of ‘known and unknown terrorists’. Sociotechnical systems may also affect inward-looking perceptions of security practitioners’ experiences and roles, for example, the use of body cameras affects police officers’ perceptions of their institutional efficiency. Furthermore, perceptions shaped through human-nonhuman interactions become entangled in the knowledge production of security binaries such as legal/illegal, safe/dangerous, civilian/combatant, and others. Where perceptions are stabilized as knowledge, interventions are implemented and justified.

Given the importance of STS approaches to a variety of disciplines, including international relations, political science, legal scholarship, critical security and surveillance studies, anthropology, media studies, and more - this workshop provides a multidisciplinary space for the exploration of the main theme of human-nonhuman perceptions in the security realm. The workshop conveners invite scholars from different backgrounds whose work draws from the following theoretical approaches: sociotechnical imaginaries, the study of practices, (law) discourses, post-phenomenological approaches, actor-network theory, posthumanism, assemblages, and similar others.

In studying the theme of security perceptions, conceptual and methodological questions are intertwined. What is considered a threat, and by whom? And (how) does this change through the integration of nonhumans in a sociotechnical system? Thus, this workshop discusses how scholars from various backgrounds understand ‘security perceptions’ (conceptually) and how they study them (methodologically). Participants are invited to reflect upon some of the following questions:

• How to identify and study the emerging perceptions of, for example, ourselves, others, threats, risks, warfare, and security in human-nonhuman assemblages?
• How are certain perceptions that emerge through human-nonhuman systems institutionalized and stabilized?
• How do technologies help to reinforce certain power relations by highlighting (potential) threats and ignoring others? Or: who defines what is perceived as a threat/risk/dangerous and what is not?
• In security contexts, which threats/bodies/communities are made visible/invisible when using digital tools?
• How do the different theoretical lenses of sociotechnical imaginaries, ANT, posthumanism, and others contribute to the study of changing perceptions in the security realm?
• How does the study of technological mediation and cognitive limitations contribute to the understanding of human-nonhuman entanglements in shaping security perceptions?
• How do perceptions of security practitioners' own role change through their interactions with digital technologies, such as decision-support systems, surveillance technologies, and data analysis tools?

How to Participate:

We welcome papers of both a theoretical and empirical kind and we particularly encourage submissions from early-career scholars.

Application : To be accepted to the workshop, please send in an abstract (max. 250 words) of a (draft) paper or thesis chapter before May 10th, 2023 to both convenors: Klaudia Klonowska, K.Klonowska@asser.nl (PhD candidate in International Law at Asser Institute/University of Amsterdam) or Sofie van der Maarel, sofie.vandermaarel@ru.nl (PhD candidate in International Relations at Radboud University Nijmegen/Netherlands Defence Academy). Please include in the email title: “ECW EISA Abstract Submission”.

Upon acceptance, participants will be asked to share (draft) papers or chapters of max. 8000 words (excluding references or notes) by August 15th, 2023.

All workshop participants are expected to participate in the EISA-PEC main conference, and have to be registered for the conference before attending the workshop. Accommodation costs (1 night) will be reimbursed for workshop participants to cover the early arrival at the EISA conference.

 Deadline: 10 May 2023

Tentative schedule

The Politics of Green Extractivism in the Global Energy Transition

Organised by: Tobias Kalt (University of Hamburg, Germany), Lauren Hermanus (University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Contact: tobias.kalt@uni-hamburg.de ; lauren@howweadapt.com

The global energy transition demands resources like platinum, lithium, copper, rare earth metals, biomass, and hydrogen, which are primarily sourced from the Global South. The production of inputs into global energy value and decarbonised industrial value chains demands the allocation and degradation of land, water, and sinks, as well as the generation of complex waste streams. The ecological costs and risks of the decarbonisation of energy and related industrial value chains, particularly those borne by countries in the Global South, are largely overlooked in policy, popular and academic debates. The global energy transition risks to create a new global resource grab and the reproduction or exacerbation of neocolonial dependencies and global inequalities.

Powerful states and corporations extract resources from poorer countries in order to meet their climate goals and ensure their own economic resilience and continued growth, while upstream and downstream socio-ecological costs are externalized to the zones of resource extraction. The distributional impacts of the low-carbon or net-zero transition in the global energy are obscured by narratives promoting economic development, local industrial opportunities, or social development benefits, such as energy access in resource-rich low and middle-income countries. However, these uneven effects have been contested on the ground by frontline communities, civil society, labour and national governments that demand environmental, climate justice and, just transitions, or just energy transitions.

This workshop examines these emerging patterns of resource extraction in the global energy transition, the power dynamics shaping green extractivism and the potentials for a transnational politics of solidarity against green extractivism. We put a specific thematic focus on Europe's scramble for green and blue hydrogen from the Global South as illustrative cases of green extractivism.

In this workshop, we explore recent trends of green extractivism, map relevant research themes, questions and networks, discuss innovative theoretical and analytical approaches to green extractivism, explore opportunities for further research and collaboration and grow an international community of like-minded early-career researchers working on green extractivism.

How to Participate:

We warmly welcome applications from early career researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds and geographical contexts who are conducting research on green extractivism, particularly but not limited to green hydrogen. We also strongly encourage individuals who identify as belonging to marginalised communities, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC), women and LGBTQI+, and scholars based in countries of the Global South, to apply. We are seeking co-funding to cover travel and accommodation costs for all workshop participants to ensure that financial barriers do not hinder participation.

To register for the workshop, kindly send us an email before May 31. Please include a short statement about your research experience, current projects, and areas of interes that you wish to explore further in relation to the topic of green extractivism. Also, inform us if you require travel cost reimbursements. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Deadline: 31 May 2023

Tentative schedule