Alternative Careers for PhDs in the Humanities
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
September 8-9, 2017

CALL FOR PAPERS: The graduate students in the Department of Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University welcome proposals around the topic of alternative careers for PhDs in the humanities.

Keynote Speaker: Romand Coles, Professor of Political Theory and Practice, Institute for Social Justice, Australian Catholic University. Professor Coles is a scholar-activist who works at the intersections of continental and critical philosophy, radical democratic theory, and various modes of political organizing and activism.

In the wake of recent and widespread discussions on alternative PhDs, this interdisciplinary conference seeks to address the different opportunities and initiatives available for PhD students in the humanities for careers in non-academic contexts. The aim is to bring together a wide audience, including scholars, students currently writing their dissertations, as well as PhDs working in non-academic positions, to discuss the different possibilities, challenges, constraints, experiments, resources, types of research—both the successes and failures—of conducting research and writing dissertations in relation to non-academic contexts (NGOs, local government, publishing, social and cultural organizations, educational outreach, the private sector, activism and participatory research, and so on).

We welcome proposals from graduate students, recent postgraduates, and early career researchers in the humanities for traditional or non-traditional formats, including but not limited to roundtable discussions, workshops, and traditional paper presentations for no longer than 20 minutes. We also encourage applicants who cannot attend to consider the possibility of participating by videoconferencing (such as Skype).

Please send a one page proposal (250-300 words) along with a one page bio to csalternativephds@gmail.com by August 15, 2017