PhD Summer School

Click here for the Call for Participants 2022

The PhD Summer School 2022 aims to explore upcoming research questions related to the platform economy and platform work. By convening senior researchers and findings from ongoing PhD research we want to deepen our understanding about the methods to explore the empirical relevance and specifics of the phenomenon.

By situating individual research projects within the broader research agenda on the platform economy and platform work, the summer school focuses on a range of topics, including

• studies of algorithmic management on labour platforms;
• issues of race, gender and migration in platform work;
• varieties of platform capitalism;
• the role of platforms in reorganising traditional industries,
• ethics of digitalisation, strategic foresights.

The best five papers will be published after the Summer School.

Number of places: 16 PhD working on the topics related to digitalisation transformation from the social science perspective. Interdisciplinary approaches are highly encouraged.

Eligibility: currently registered PhD students in Social Science/Related Disciplines.

Selection: Participants will be selected following a peer-review process and on the basis of scientific excellence of their proposed abstract. A fair balance between different regions of Europe and topics will be maintained.

Format of the event: On-site

Funding: All selected participants will be provided with 3 nights’ accommodation and meals during the stay. The travel costs and the costs for COVID-19 tests if required for the travel are not reimbursed. The PhD Students from Ukraine will be offered travel scholarships.

Fee: a fee of 50 EUR to be paid to the organisers once the list of participants is announced.

Applications should be submitted by April 30, 2022

The list of participants will be announced by June 15, 2022

Selected participants are required to submit a manuscript of a full paper (4000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography) by July 15, 2022 to Dr Inga Sabanova.

Prof. Dr. Martin Krzywdzinski is a Professor of International Labour Relations at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, director at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society and head of the research group "Globalization, Work and Production" at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

Dr. Florian Butollo is a Research Fellow the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and senior advisor at the Enquete Commission ‘Artificial Intelligence – Social Responsibility and Economic Potential’ of the German Parliament.

Tatiana Lopez-Ayala is a Researcher at the international Fairwork Secretariat at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and a member of the research group “Globalization, Work and Production”.

Dr. Funda Ustek Spilda is a Post-Doctoral Researcher and project manager at Fairwork, based at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of London. She studies issues of justice, fairness and ethics in emerging technologies, from the perspectives of labour, migration and gender.

Dr. Charalambos Tsekeris is a Senior Research Fellow in Digital Sociology at the National Centre for Social Research (Athens, Greece), and Vice-President of the Hellenic National Commission for Bioethics and Techno-ethics.