Pre-Conference Workshop

 The purpose of the Pre-Conference Workshop is to develop participants’ knowledge of critical realism as much as possible over three full days. It is targeted to those who are new to the philosophy or who are wanting to learn more. For students, it is an opportunity to meet peers and develop international and supportive networks. For anyone new to critical realism and IACR conferences, it is an opportunity to go into the conference with new connections and developing friendships.

During the first two days there will be introductory lectures and discussion sessions on the philosophy of Roy Bhaskar (including first wave, dialectical, and metaReality phases), Margaret Archer’s contribution, developing critical realist-informed social science research methodologies and critical realist academic writing. In addition, there will be feedback sessions giving students an opportunity to present their work in progress and discuss their questions with mentors. For all attendees, the feedback sessions provide stimulating examples of how scholars are employing critical realism in their research and inspiration for your own work.

Day three introduces two recent variations within critical realist literature which build on the canonical works of Bhaskar and Archer but operationalise and modify them in various philosophical, theoretical, methodological, and empirical ways: the Norm circles approach by Dave Elder-Vass and Morphogenetic Régulation by Karim Knio. This day will consist of introductory lectures ( 1h 45 min for each variation) followed by a seminar session ( 2 h for each variation) where these approaches are integrated into a concrete case study. The seminar sessions will also dedicate some space for Q&A. 

Register below to present your ‘work in progress’ research for feedback at the Pre-Conference Workshop

The opportunity to present for feedback is available to online and in-person participants. Please note that presenting at these sessions is most valuable for students who are still engaged in designing their project or the collection and analysis of data. For students who have completed their research and are close to submission of their thesis, please submit an abstract to present your work at the main IACR conference. The conference is also a very welcoming and supportive space for student presentations and the more appropriate setting.

You must register for the Pre-conference before completing this form

This form closes Sunday 12 July at 17:00 (CEST) or earlier if all available feedback slots have been filled