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 or law and institutions.

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

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

Requirement for participation & selection criteria
The course is primarily targeted PhD fellows from the Faculty of Law at University of Copenhagen, International Law Department at Geneva Graduate Institute, the Department of Law at the European University Institute and the Department of Law, Umeå University. 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.

University of Copenhagen participates in the national network regarding PhD courses, which for this course means that if the course is oversubscribed 80% of the places will be allocated to PhD fellows enrolled in a PhD programme at one of the above institutions. The remaining 20 % of the places will be allocated to PhD fellows enrolled in one of the other PhD schools participating in the Danish network for PhD courses.

In extraordinary cases and if places are available master students of the hosting institutions may also be offered participation.

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 6th March and ending 22rd May and contain a break on 3rd and 10th April.
Please note that session 7 will take place on Thursday 30th April.

Programme

Preparation
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 27 February 2026.

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 5 June 2026.

Both assignments will be provided to course participants upon acceptance to the course.

Venue
The course will be held online. Links to the sessions will be provided to course participants 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; attendance will be recorded.

Max. numbers of participants: 50

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

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 (zuzanna.godzimirska@jur.ku.dk) for further information. 

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