The Centre for Law and Security (CERES) invites PhD candidates and doctoral students from all disciplines with an interest in law and security to a half-day PhD symposium. The symposium takes place in connection with the Conference on Law and Security and brings together PhD candidates with an interest in law and security.

Call
If you wish to participate in the PhD symposium, you must submit an abstract of approximately two standard pages (4,800 characters including spaces) containing the following:

• A brief account of your research project, including topic, research questions, methodology, and structure.
• The formulation of 1-3 theses framing your (expected) research contribution. These theses should be concise statements indicating what you expect – on the basis of your project – to be able to conclude with relevance for legal scholarship.
• Brief reflections on security perspectives relevant to your project.

At the symposium, participants will present their research project, theses, and security perspectives based on their abstract. Each participant will also serve as discussant on one of the other contributions and will be asked to formulate constructive critical questions and counter‑theses on the abstract and presentation. Additionally, a faculty member will steer the sessions and provide feedback on methodological issues of the projects.

Academic Aim
 - Knowledge about methodological approaches to research within law and security
 - Competence to provide a brief account of their PhD projects, incl. theses and methods, for feedback
 - Competence to provide feedback / act as discussants for other research projects, incl. projects outside their primary area of expertise and/or discipline
 - Competence to present their research within various contexts, incl. ability to adapt presentation to new contexts

Target group: PhD Candidates and doctoral students from Denmark, the Nordic countries and Europe, at all stages of their enrolment, from all disciplines, with an interest in law and security.

Language: English
NB! At the practioners track at the conference, some presentations will be in Danish.

Registration: You are only allowed to register if you have submitted an abstract: Sign up for PhD Symposium on Law and Security.
Abstracts and presentations must be in English and must be submitted to Anja Møller Pedersen and Cornelius Wiesener no later than 1 June 2026.

Course fee: Participation in the symposium is free of charge.

ECTS: The PhD symposium (active participation in the symposium + participation in the main conference) corresponds to a workload of 1 ECTS credit, and a course certificate will be issued.

Max. numbers of participants: 18

Practical details: Lunch and refreshments will be provided by the PhD School at the Faculty of Law.  

Preparation: Further instructions for preparation will follow once all applications have been reviewed by the organisers.

Further information: For more information, please contact the organisers or the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk)

Organisers: 
Anja Møller Pedersen, Assistant Professor - Tenure Track, Center for Law and Security, University of Copenhagen
Cornelius Wiesener, Assistant Professor - Tenure Track, Center for Law and Security, University of Copenhagen

Tentative programme for the PhD Symposium and conference:

Thursday 27 August
Day 1 will be held in English. 

PhD Symposium
09.00-09.50: Coffee and round of presentations
10.00-10.50: 1st round of presentations and feedback (parallel sessions depending on the number of participants)
11.00-12.00: 2nd round of presentations and feedback (parallel sessions depending on the number of participants)
12.00-12.45: Concluding remarks and lunch

Conference DAY 1
13:00 - 13:30 Registration and welcome to researcher track
13:30 - 14:15 Keynote speech
14:15 - 14:45 Coffee and cake
14:45 - 16:15 Panel I: Three presentations (15 minutes each) followed by Q&A/discussion.
16:15 - 16:30 Break
16:30 - 18:00 Panel II: Three presentations (15 minutes each) followed by Q&A/discussion.
18:00 - 19:00 Reception
19:00 Informal dinner for all speakers and chairs

Friday 28 August
Day 2 will be held in English and Danish.

9:00 - 10:30 Panel III: Three presentations (15 minutes each) followed by Q&A/discussion.
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee and croissants
11:00 - 12:30 Panel IV: Three presentations (15 minutes each) followed by Q&A/discussion.
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 - 14:00 Registration and welcome to the practitioner track (in Danish)
14:00 - 14:15 Opening speech
14:15 - 15:15 Panel debate on international institutions under pressure: Four short presentations (5 minutes each) followed by Q&A/discussion.
15:15 - 15:45 Coffee and cake
15:45 - 16:45 Panel debate on the state of the European security architecture: Four short presentations (5 minutes each) followed by Q&A/discussion.
16:45 - 17:00 Closing remarks
17:00 - Friday Bar with draft CERES beer, snacks and live music