JESP/ESPAnet Doctoral Researcher Prize
The Journal of European Social Policy (JESP) and the Network for European Social Policy Analysis (ESPAnet) are offering a prize to the best paper by a doctoral researcher presented at any of the ESPAnet conferences, workshops or seminars in 2011.
The prize-winning paper is provided with high-profile publication in the Journal of European Social Policy, and the winner also receives 1 year's free subscription to the journal.
The judging process is tougher than normal journal refereeing procedures, and the high-profile publication and public announcements of the winning paper reward the author for the outstanding and exciting quality of their work.
The judging process is fully anonymous, but otherwise much more rigorous even than normal scholarly journal refereeing procedures. There are four senior, international scholars who act as judges, and who read all the papers submitted for the prize (rather than the usual two referees). Even if you do not win the prize, this is a great opportunity to get feedback on your work, to help you develop your ideas, and prepare your work for publication.
You will have the chance to have your work evaluated both on its own terms, and in relation to your peers, and of course you might be especially pleased with the result!
The judges are particularly looking for exciting, innovative and scholarly work, which challenges existing perspectives; poses new research problems, and develops answers to them; which offers sophisticated insights and interpretations from empirical evidence; and/or which develops new methods, or applies old methods in new ways to illuminate our understanding. Papers can cover any subject; country/countries; adopt any theoretical basis; use any methodology; and come from any discipline within the broad field of social policy. The only subject matter requirement is that the paper should make a contribution to our understanding of, and knowledge about, social policy in Europe.
The submitted paper must have been presented at one of the ESPAnet conferences, workshops or seminars in 2010. The author(s) must, at the closing date of January 7th, 2012, not yet have been awarded a doctorate. Jointly authored papers are acceptable, providing that no authors have been awarded a doctorate at the closing date.
The prize-winning paper for the doctoral researcher prize will be published in one of the forthcoming issues of the Journal of European Social Policy and it will be specifically identified as the prize-winning paper. The winner also receives 1 year's free subscription to the Journal.
Read the previous published JESP/ESPAnet Doctoral Research Prize winners: Künzel, Sebastian (2012 forthcoming): The local dimension of active inclusion policy. Journal of European Social Policy 22(1). Jo, Nam (2011): Between the cultural foundations of welfare and welfare attitudes: a possibility of an in-between level conception of culture for the cultural analysis of welfare. Journal of European Social Policy, 21(1). Reibling, Nadine (2010): Healthcare systems in Europe: towards an incorporation of patient access. Journal of European Social Policy, 20(1). Jensen, Carsten (2009): Institutions and the politics of childcare. Journal of European Social Policy, 19(1): pp 7-19. Polakowski, Michal and Dorota Szelewa (2008) 'Who Cares? Patterns of Care in Central and Eastern Europe.' Journal of European Social Policy, 18(1). Kühner, Stefan (2007) 'A new facet of the 'dependent variable problem': Simple comparisons of expenditure based 'welfare reform' measures and its 'not-so-straightforward' consequences for the comparative analysis of the welfare state.' Journal of European Social Policy, 17(1). Häusermann, Silja (2006) 'Changing coalitions in social policy reforms: the politics of new social needs and demands', Journal of European Social Policy, 16(1). Naumann, Ingela (2005) 'Child care and feminism in West Germany and Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s', Journal of European Social Policy, 15(1): 47-64.
Here some comments by the last years awarded:
Stefan Kühner about winning the 2005-Prize:
"Receiving this Prize has not only encouraged me to stay in academia, it also played a huge role for my appointment as a permanent Social Policy lecturer even before I had passed my viva. The recognition that comes with this prize has helped to convince a sponsor to facilitate a research visit in the US, and the same is true for my employment at a major international organisation as an external collaborator last year. ESPAnet has provided a chance to meet and discuss my work with leading researchers in the field, and I can only encourage all current 'Doctoral Researchers' to consider submission of their work for the prize."
Silja Häusermann about winning the 2004-Prize:
"Winning the Prize made quite a few people take notice of my research and of the arguments I wanted to make. It has helped me enormously in being admitted and getting funding for a research stay in the US. It is a crucial early single-authored publication in a well-known peer-reviewed journal, and it turned out to be an important "signal" in academia, both for people within and outside of the welfare state research community. Last but not least, it made me belief that my Ph.D. research was not completely on the wrong track and gave me the confidence to consider a professional future in academia in the longer run."
Ingela Naumann about winning the 2003-Prize:
"I certainly did not think my research was good or original enough for a prize - and I know many students feel the same about their own work. In fact, it was a friend of mine who persuaded me to send my paper to ESPAnet on the very last day of submission. The Prize was, of course, a great confidence-booster, and it has encouraged me to keep developing my own ideas irrespective of what's "en vogue" in my research field at any particular time. It has basically been my entry ticket into academia. It's brought me many interesting offers to co-operate in research projects and an open-ended lectureship even before I had finished my PhD."