SEERC, the South-East European Research Centre, a Research Centre of the University of Sheffield and CITY Liberal Studies, is organising a two-day PhD Conference that will take place in Thessaloniki on 26-27 June 2008.

The aim of the conference is to initiate an exchange of knowledge between young researchers and to help establish a network of scholars currently undertaking research in South East Europe. Having identified academic isolation as a problem that many doctoral students face today, SEERC aims to bring researchers together for establishing collaborative links between disciplines, for testing the ground for innovative ideas and for engaging the wider academic community.

The Conference is open for participation to young researchers currently undertaking doctoral study, or in the early years of their research career (up to 2 years following the award of their PhD degree).

The past two Doctoral Student conferences with last year’s event attracting over 120 papers from countries of South East Europe and beyond (UK, France, Germany, Holland, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and as far as Ukraine), confirmed the need for Doctoral Students to come together, discuss their experiences and gain external feedback to their work as well as listen to the progress and methodology of fellow PhD candidates. The success of the previous events set the tone for the organisation of yet another Doctoral conference based on the experiences gained so far:

All papers accepted for presentation will be edited and published in proceedings. Selected and best papers will be double-blind refereed and accepted papers will be published in special issues of the International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development (www.inderscience.com/ijird)

This year a workshop focussed on the building of skills for doctoral candidates will form part of the programme. Doctoral students will have the chance to find out useful information on “How to Write a paper for a Journal” and also to sharpen their presentation skills through tips for successful presentations.