• Budowski Monica
• Künzler Daniel

This course with the scientific internship addresses the following questions: How is the accumulation of knowledge in the social sciences organized? How is the quality of social scientific knowledge ensured, how does it become known and applicable? We address these questions theoretically, and provide an overview of how sociology and other social sciences organize. The lecturers enable students to follow through the whole procedure of the idea, proposal and how it came that an international conference will take place in Fribourg August 25-27, 2021. The conference is titled “Drivers and challenges of social policies: Global, regional, national and local perspectives” and is the annual conference of RC19. The RC 19 addresses core topics that are taught in the (German-language) programs in Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at the University of Fribourg on the BA and MA-level. The course also addresses which organizational issues are relevant and why, which has become particularly important with new formats (in presence, online or hybrid formats). Moreover, the course contains a scientific internship where students acquire hands on insight with their active participation at the RC19 annual conference, both on the level of contents as on the level of organizational issues. The Research Committee 19 (RC19) – Poverty, Welfare and Social Policy – is a sub-committee of the International Sociological Association. RC 19 was founded in 1968, mainly by Nordic Researchers. The committee’s purpose is “to encourage high quality research” with which “theoretically grounded empirical research” is meant. The topics of research are defined as «the sources and character of social problems; the planning and administration of social programs; and more generally, public policies and intervention strategies aimed at alleviating social problems and influencing the society in that regard» (Statutes of RC 19). Since 1968, the RC19 has evolved and become more globally integrated. It now strongly encourages comparative and transnational research.

The course is open to students of the Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Global Development enrolled in a 120 ECTS-BA- or the 90-ECTS MA-program. The number of participants is limited. Block 1 of the course is taught in German; the Conference is in Englisch. Good English is required; participation for the preparation of and participation at the conference is required (19 or 20, 23-27 August 2021).

The Social Organization of Knowledge with Scientific Internship and Conference RC19

Block I Organization of science: purpose and form        

8.3.2021 17-19h

The organization of the accumulation of knowledge, its quality, transfer and distribution through scientific conferences.
What are scientific conferences for?
How are they organized?
Preparatory reading: Carrier, Martin. (2018). Social Organization of Science. In Paul Humphreys (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The lecturers will present the preparatory reading and answer questions.

29.3.2021 17-19h

First academic chore: Grouping the abstracts according to topic
Assignment of grouped abstracts to students
What are criteria for assessing abstracts?
Preparatory reading: https://www.academic-conferences.org/policies/abstract-guidelines-for-papers/

12.4.2021 (deadline)

Second academic chore: Submission of the assessment of the quality of the abstracts

10.6.2021 13-15h

Information about the organizational preparation for the RC19 conference

Block II Conference RC19

20.8.2021

First organizational session (Friday, or possibly Thursday 19.8.2021, depending on the format of the conference)

23.8.2021 – 27.8.2021

Organizational chores for and during the conference

Assessment for 3 ECTS

Regular attendance
Active participation

Mandatory readings
Preparation of the mandatory readings on time

Academic assignments
Active participation in the guided “hands-on” academic assignments

Organizational assignments
Active participation in the guided “hands-on” organizational assignments: participation before and during the conference 19 or 20, 23 – 27 of August

Short written assignment
Evaluated (not graded).

Dieses wissenschaftliche Praktikum richtet sich an Studierende im Hauptfach des Studienbereichs Sozialarbeit, Sozialpolitik und globale Entwicklung.

Der Kongress RC19 findet vom 25. - 27.08.2021 statt. In dieser Zeit (23.-27.08.2021) ist Anwesenheitspflicht.

Für die Einschreibung wenden Sie sich bitte an sopa@unifr.ch.

Further readings of interest:

Carrier, Martin. (2018). Social Organization of Science. In Paul Humphreys (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clegg, Michael. (2008). The Role of International Scientific Organizations. In Glenn Schweitzer & Yousef Sobouti (Eds.), Science as a Gateway to Understanding. International Workshop Proceedings, Tehran, Iran (pp. 65–76). Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.

Fuchs, Stefan. (1986). The Social Organization of Scientific Knowledge. Sociological Theory, 4(2), 126–142.

Fuchs, Stefan, von Stebut, Janina, & Allmendinger, Jutta. (2001). Gender, Sciences, and Scientific Organizations in Germany. Minerva, 39, 175–201.

Schroeder-Gudehus, Brigitte. (1973). Challenge to Transnational Loyalties: International Scientific Organizations after the First World War. Science Studies, 3, 93–118.