Summer School for Young Scholars
Topic: Activism in and with Academia: Methodological Skills for Navigating a Complex Relationship
Dates: 1-3 July 2025, Luiss Guido Carli University – Rome, Italy
Application Deadline: 15 March 2025
Application Process: a 2-page CV and a motivation letter of 500 words maximum to be submitted electronically to abertisuman@luiss.it
Background
Leveraging on the successful experience of the Winter School on “Experimental and Engaged Approaches to Legal Research” held at Tilburg University in fall 2023, we invite prospect participants to join a new, exciting summer school for young scholars[1] from social sciences and law, focusing on the urgent and compelling theme of “Activism in and with academia: methodological skills for navigating a complex relationship”. With this timely theme in mind, we aim to provide a space for reflection on what role academics play in social change through their research and teaching.
The summer school will engage a community of young scholars in collectively interrogating how to 1) co-create research with different audiences; 2) build synergies with civil society; 3) communicate and disseminate results more powerfully; and 4) explore multiple teaching styles to enhance students’ and communities’ learning. The envisaged outcomes encompass strengthened synergies between peers within academia for innovative methodological approaches; the possibility to scale up the experience to other universities and contexts through spin-off projects; and the mutual learning between society and academia.
The Summer School is organized in the framework of the ENGAGE.EU Research Label 2024, held by an alliance of 9 universities, supported by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union.
[1] A young scholar is defined broadly as aspiring career academic who self-identifies as such or holds precarious, temporary academic position.
Objectives
The Summer School aims at:
- equipping scholars with innovative methods for societal – including citizen – engagement, steering creativity to envision different visions of the future, that are more positive and oriented to action;
- fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, offering a space where researchers can explore new ways to contribute to real-world solutions informing policymaking for healthier and more sustainable living;
- exploring interactive teaching styles to enhance students’ and communities’ learning;
- embracing the researchers and lecturers’ role in questioning the status quo, courageously engaging in difficult conversations;
- collaborating with civil society, co-creating the solutions for and with them, which is especially important in light of ongoing shifts in academic funding structures;
- offering an opportunity to build and sustain a community of researchers who are committed to learning in a collegial way.
Convenors
The convenors are a motivated group of young academics and their institutions believing in the power of an open and inclusive dialogue on activism in and with academia.
Anna Berti Suman, Senior Research Fellow at Luiss Guido Carli University and Founder of Sensing for Justice.
The Summer School coordinator, Dr. Anna Berti Suman, from Luiss Guido Carli University, will bring her experience in deploying engaged legal research, slow ethnography, visual and performative methods, as well as her knowledge on citizen science, gained at the lead of the Sensing for Justice project. She will also bring the experience of civil society-academia cooperation accrued through her practice at LabGov – Laboratory of the City as Commons, within Luiss University.
Anastasiya Ansteeg, Postdoctoral Researcher at Tilburg University.
Anastasiya Ansteeg, from Tilburg University, will bring the experience of working with critical performative and art-based methods that challenge status-quo and envisage affirmative actions, acquired through her work in the BOLSTER project – engaging vulnerable communities in climate change policies.
Bozhidar Atanasov, PhD Researcher at the University of National and World Economy.
Bozhidar Atanasov from the University of National and World Economy will contribute with experience in innovative communication for leveraging the impact of academic results.
Evgenia Volkova, PhD Researcher at the University of Toulouse Capitole.
Evgeniia Volkova from the University of Toulouse Capitole will share her knowledge of interactive training methods, gained from teaching the Smart Cities & Law Course at Luiss and Toulouse Universities, as well as her legal research and writing skills.
Siddharth De Souza, Assistant Professor from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at Warwick University.
Siddharth de Souza, from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, Warwick University, will contribute from his experiences of working at the intersection of law and design to find ways to build playful interventions to demystify how legal knowledge is produced and circulated.
Antonella Radicchi, Architect and Urbanist, Founder of Hush City.
Antonella Radicchi, Architect and Urbanist, Founder of Hush City, a citizen science initiative aimed to identify quiet areas on an open access map for improving citizens’ wellbeing, combining sensory methods and citizen science digital tools.
Format
The summer school will take place in Rome at Luiss Guido Carli University’s premises (Viale Romania, 32), over the course of three days: 1-3 July, 2025. We will combine frontal teaching with group works and experiential sessions such as sensorial walks, and visual documentation sessions. There will also be free time for people to learn, as well as unlearn in a relaxed atmosphere. We will invite guest lecturers beyond the convenors who will present their methods and approaches, and societal organisations such as a citizen science initiative for hands-on sessions.
We will introduce the participants to research-related, as well as applied topics.
- Research-related topics concern basics of the research design, the research cycles, empirical research and research ethics, as relevant for the theme of activism in and with academia. The sessions will cover performative techniques and graphic novels for engaging participants through ‘research-creation’ approaches; gamification in research; legal mobilisation to engage communities; slow ethnography and sensorial/sound walks as a multi-actor method of research; and participant observation in challenging settings. We will also reflect on how to boost the impact of our research and teaching through innovative communication methods.
- Applied topics concern the specific issues young researchers face in navigating the current academic times. Sessions will cover industry-academia partnerships, private funding to research and teaching in social sciences, as well as research communication and collaborations with societal stakeholders.
Preliminary program
The Summer School will be organized along the following thematic streams. At least one month before the Summer School, concept notes, bios of the lecturers and preparatory materials will be shared with the selected participants.
Day 1 – 1 July 2025
Morning
Anna Berti Suman: Introduction to the Summer School and to the ENGAGE. EU project + All: active icebreaker and get to know of participants.
Anna Berti Suman & Siddharth De Souza: Activism & Academia within the research design.
+ Associate Prof. Michiel Bot: Activism meets academia, based on a personal experience.
Afternoon
Siddharth: Play in research – Using Lego to think through elements of who makes an activist academic.
+ Panel discussion from the University of Warwick (online): Why methodology matters and its connection to activism.
Evgenia Volkova: Legal aspects of research commercialisation.
Day 2 – 2 July 2025
Morning
Antonella Radicchi and Anna: 3-block session on citizen science methodology to explore connections between researchers and civil society + Assistant Prof. Carolina Vasilikou (in person) from the University of Cambridge, on inclusive sensory methods.
Anna and Caterina Selva (in person), Research Fellow at the University of Bologna: Academia and journalism as a dimension of activism, based on the experience of the inquiry ‘Sentinelle’.
Afternoon
Anastasiya Ansteeg: “Reading as a Method of Protest”.
+ Dr. Sarouche Razi, (online), Australian National University: De-colonial thinking and teaching.
Day 3 – 3 July 2025
Morning
Alexandra Greene, PhD Researcher and Lecturer at Free University of Amsterdam: Research creation and navigating emotions in research.
Anna and Alice Toietta alias Aelisir Illustrator (in person): Graphic novels and theatrical performance as an instrument of research and of engagement.
Evgenia: Open science and open research data.
Afternoon
Bozhidar Atanasov: Strategies and innovative communication techniques to promote research and improve teaching.
+ Panel discussion from the University of National and World Economy and Tilburg University: Academic communication for impact and promoting research online.
All: wrapping up, feedback moment, sharing contacts and next steps.
Application timeline
The application to the Summer School consists of: a 2-page CV and a motivation letter of 500 words maximum which need to be submitted electronically to abertisuman@luiss.it writing in the object of the email ‘ENGAGE.EU-application’. Applications must be submitted in English.
The deadline for sending the applications is set for March 15, 2025. It will not be possible to apply after the deadline. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis. By March 31, 2025, participants will be notified of whether they have been admitted to the Summer School. Participants will be invited to book their travel and accommodation to Rome for July 2025.
The Summer School will take place on 1-3 July 2025. Participants are expected to arrive on June 30, 2025, and leave either the evening of July 3, 2025, or on July 4, 2025. Participants are expected to stay for the full duration of the Summer School. Practical information on the venue and suggestions on accommodation will be shared with admitted participants.
Selection process
We will accept up to 15 participants. The Summer School welcomes in particular young scholars defined broadly as aspiring career academics who self-identify as such in particular as they hold precarious, temporary academic positions. The criterion of precarity regards the scholar’s situation of persistent insecurity with regard to their employment or income. This uncertainty may make the scholar more vulnerable and less inclined to take openly positions that contrast those of their colleagues and/or institutions. We believe that the Summer School could be particularly beneficial for this typology of scholars. We expect that the motivation letters and CVs enable us to assess the nature of young and precarious scholars of the applicants, letting these elements emerge.
We will consider equity, diversity and inclusion as selection criteria as strongly connected with precarity. In this framework, applications from ENGAGE.EU candidates from the ‘global south’ and Eastern Europe are highly encouraged. We will privilege applicants with an interdisciplinary track record or clear motivation to embrace interdisciplinarity; and/or with an activism track record or clear motivation to move towards activism in their academic track.
The selection of applicants will be performed by the convenors of the Summer School complemented with external observers to avoid any conflict of interests.
Funding
Participants will have to cover their travel and accommodation expenses in Rome and arrange them independently. Remote attendance or partial attendance is not possible.
Funding options for participants’ travel and accommodation may be available through their institution, either within the context of the ENGAGE.EU Alliance or other opportunities (e.g., Marie Curie Alumni Association – Micro-grant scheme; Regional Studies Association, etc.). For more information, please contact your institution’s local office or the ENGAGE.EU local contact point listed below.
Contacts
For specific questions related to the Summer School, each applicant may reach out to Anna Berti Suman, abertisuman@luiss.it, writing in the object of the email ‘ENGAGE.EU-question’.
ENGAGE.EU Local Points
Applicants from the ENGAGE.EU alliance can contact their local university’s ENGAGE.EU team member for questions specifically related to their institution and this call:
Hanken: Dr. Sirpa Aalto, sirpa.aalto@hanken.fi
Luiss: Aurora Alegiani aalegiani@luiss.it
NHH: Dr. Heather Arghandeh Paudler, Heather.Argandeh.Paudler@nhh.no
Tilburg: Rianne Strijker, r.strijker@tilburguniversity.edu
UMA: Sati Cakar, sati.cakar@uni-mannheim.de
UNWE: Assoc. Prof. Hristina Harizanova-Bartos, hharizanova@unwe.bg
URL:Ana Caellas Camprubi, acaellas@rectorat.url.edu
UT Capitole: Myriam Greusard, myriam.greusard@ut-capitole.fr
WU: Rina Gjana, rina.gjana@wu.ac.at
Privacy Terms
We may collect personal data in the framework of our reporting to the ENGAGE.EU project. ENGAGE.EU is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy by maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of your personal data, in accordance with the GDPR and other applicable legislation. We collect, process and store your data for the sole purpose of evaluating your application. If you decide to participate in the program, you will be asked to sign a consent form as we may use pictures and audiovisual materials recorded during the summer school for communication and dissemination purposes.