The Social Science Methods for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies (Methods Course) is based on a collaboration between the Faculty of Law at University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Central European University, Vienna (CEU), and Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID).

Target group

The Methods Course is targeted towards legal scholars in the early stages of their PhD projects.

Goal

To present law researchers to methods that are particularly suited for the interdisciplinary study of law and institutions.

Academic Aim

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of basic social science concepts, tools, and methods
• identify research methods relevant to their own research
• critically reflect on research design, including choices of data collection and research methods

Requirement for participation & selection criteria

The course is only available to PhD fellows from the Faculty of Law at University of Copenhagen, International Law Department at Geneva Graduate Institute and the Department of Law at the European University Institute.

Participants must be enrolled in a PhD programme at the hosting institutions. Exceptions could be made in extraordinary cases for master students of the hosting institutions. It is recommended (but not required) that the substantive focus of the researcher includes a branch of domestic or international law, an international court or quasi-judicial body.

Sessions

Beyond an introductory session, and a session on how to integrate theory in interdisciplinary studies, the sessions will be structured around specific methods relevant to legal studies. The sessions will run in the spring semester and rotate between the hosting institutions.

The sessions will take place on Fridays 10-12 am starting 7th March and ending 23rd May and contain a break on 18th and 25th April.

Registration: 

Please register using the link in the box before 1 February 2025.

Programme

1st assignment: Participants will be asked to submit a brief presentation of their project and reflect on their research design. The assignments must be submitted by email to phd@hrsc.ku.dk by 1 March 2025.

2nd assignment: Participants will be asked to reflect on research design, including on choices of data collection, research methods and integration of theory learned during the course. The assignments must be submitted by email to phd@hrsc.ku.dk by 15 June 2025.

Venue

The course will be held online. Zoom links to the sessions will be provided to course participants a month before the start of the course.

Course organizer: 

Faculty of Law at University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Central European University (CEU), and Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID).

Language: 

English

ECTS

Participants will receive ECTS credits upon completing the course. The exact number of ECTS credits will be determined by each institution. At UCPH, participants will earn 5 ECTS credits. To receive a course diploma, participants must submit two assignments and attend all sessions, as attendance will be recorded.

Max. numbers of participants: 50.

Further information

Any questions about the course may be directed to the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk) or the course organizers Assistant Professor William Hamilton Byrne (william.hamilton.byrne@jur.ku.dk) or Associate Professor Zuzanna Godzimirska for further information. 

Literature

Literature will be circulated in February before the commencement of the course