Doctoral Consortia

As we have a lot of PhD candidates within the ERCIS network in different locations around the world, we established regular ERCIS doctoral consortia to foster the exchange of ideas and suggestions for improvement from senior faculty. Researchers with different IS backgrounds as well as other PhD candidates that can give valuable input lead to fresh ideas and new approaches concerning the PhD thesis. Together with a professional and friendly atmosphere, the ERCIS doctoral consortia are a perfect event for improving and sharpening research ideas but also to network and make friends.

  • Key Facts

    Structure

    • Audience: The consortium aims to provide multi-perspective feedback for doctoral dissertation projects, ideally for students in the middle (2nd or 3rd year) of their dissertation projects.
    • The DC's faculty consists of 4-7 professors from ERCIS member institutions across Europe.

    Important dates 2024:

    • Application deadline: 31.10.2023 via this link
    • Consortium: 03.-10.03.2024

    2024 Faculty

    • Heike Trautmann (Paderborn University)
    • Armin Stein (University of Münster)
    • Fabian Gieseke (University of Münster)
    • Mike Preuß (Leiden University)
    • Pascal Kerschke (TU Dresden)
    • Thorsten Quandt (University of Münster)

    Application Requirements

    The consortium is designed for students who are engaged in developing their dissertation research, and who work in the wider field of Data Science (i.e., working with larger quantities of data).

    The doctoral candidates must have the financial means to travel to the Doctoral Consortium and cover accommodation and meals expenses.

    Submission Procedure

    English is the language of the doctoral consortium and all submitted materials. The submission package should include the following (see more detailed information below):

    • A Dissertation Proposal Abstract summarizing the research prepared by the student

    The submitted proposal must be uploaded to this link.

    All submissions must be in Microsoft Word DOC/ DOCX format or Adobe’s PDF format and must follow the submission format and instructions.

    Dissertation Proposal Abstract

    The Dissertation Proposal Abstract should outline the candidate’s research in the form of an abbreviated dissertation proposal. It must include a cover page with the following information:

    • Title of the proposal
    • Information about the candidate, including name, university affiliation, name of dissertation supervisor, website address, and contact information: email address, mailing address, and phone numbers.

    The proposal abstract should provide

    • a motivation for the relevance of the research,
    • the research question(s),
    • a presentation of the theoretical basis and context for the research,
    • a description of research approach and methodology,
    • preliminary findings,  
    • and expected contributions to knowledge.

    The document should also include a progress report as an appendix, indicating the estimated completion date and the work that remains to be done as of the date of submission of the proposal. The paper may not exceed 3,000 words, excluding references. The submission should follow the ICIS 2023 style.

    Selection Process and Related Information

    Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by the consortium faculty. Participants will be selected based on the quality of the proposed research, its potential significance and contribution to the IS discipline, the potential contribution the student is likely to make to the consortium, and the potential benefit of the consortium to the student’s research.

    On site programme

    Once at the venue, each student will have to present the topic for ~30 minutes. The consortium and the faculty will then provide in-depth feedback for ~60 minutes. We expect the participants to also have at least screened the topics of their peers. Although we have plenty of time for social activity, we encourage the students to use the opportunity to discuss with the faculty also outside the seminar slots.

    Certificate

    • Upon successful attendance, i.e. if all specified requirements are fulfilled, the ERCIS DC faculty will issue an attendance certificate. This certificate will include the program, the faculty and the estimated effort. It can be used to have the DC participation credited towards doctoral studies at the home University of the participant. We estimate 6 ECTS as suitable for the DC.

    Charges

    • The consortium itself will be free of charge, however there will be a charge of ~1.000€ for the accommodation package.
    • Accommodation is half-board.
  • Venue and Programme

    The consortium will take place "Hotel Andreas Hofer” in beautiful Austrian “Pitztal”.

    Arrival is Sunday, departure is Sunday. The days will be structured as follows:

    • Mornings: Discussions
    • Afternoons: Presentations
    • Evenings: Discussions, panels

    Participants will have to arrive at the venue by themselves.

    You can get to Pitztal by the following means (taken from this webpage):

    By car:

    • from Switzerland and Vorarlberg via the Arlberg route, Landeck and Imst
    • from Southern Germany, France as well as the Netherlands and Belgium: via the German motorway A7 and the toll-free Fernpass and Imst
    • from Northern Germany via MunichGarmisch and the Fernpass route. Imst or via Munich and then the Austrian motorway A12 via Kufstein, Innsbruck and Imst.
    • Adress for your GPS navigation system: 6481 St. Leonhard im Pitztal, Mandarfen 23 

    By train

    • To the train station Imst-Pitztal - from here there's an hourly bus service or on request at anytime with the taxi to our Hotel Andreas Hofer.

    By plane

    • To the closest airport Innsbruck-Kranebitten: Cheap flights depart from Hamburg, Köln, Amsterdam, Paris, ... 

Our past Doctoral Consortia

  • Pto. Pollensa, Spain, 2019

    In 2019, the ERCIS again organised a PhD consortium in Pto. Pollensa, Spain. The rationale of this series is to intensively discuss the PhD endeavour of each participant, provide multi-perspective feedback, network them, and enjoy the time together in a nice environment.The PhD candidates had to submit an eight to ten pages dissertation paper, summarizing motivation, related work, problem statement/research gap, proposed research approach and time frame. Furthermore, each of the students had to conduct a peer review of one dissertation paper. At the venue, the candidates had to present their research for approximately 30 minutes without any means but a whiteboard and pens, leaving at least an hour for discussion. Additionally, the students had to moderate the session of the paper they reviewed.

    This gave eight students the opportunity to participate: Dennis Assenmacher, University of Münster; Frank Danielsen, University of Agder; Chris Gernreich, Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Steven Groß, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien; Brigida Moucho, Universidade do Minho; Tiemo Thiess, IT University of Copenhagen; Sharon Wagg, Loughborough University; Rainer Winkler, Universität St. Gallen.This year, the faculty board consisted of Katrin Bergener, University of Münster; Alessio Maria Bracini, Università degli Studi della Tuscia; Sara Hofmann, Univer-sity of Agder; Oliver Müller, Universität Paderborn; Jens Pöppelbuß, Ruhr-Univer-sität Bochum; Armin Stein, University of Münster.

    Aside from discussing the research, the participants also used the chance to either learn sailing together, or to advance their nautical knowledge. This resulted in a great team spirit, leveraging the idea of the network to our junior scholars.

  • Pto. Pollensa, Spain, 2018

    In 2018, ERCIS offered a PhD consortium in the time from 09.06.-16.06. The consortium dealt with the research topics of the candidates, and was supervised by seven supervisors for eight PhD candidates. The consortium was opened for 2nd year PhD students (or later) from ERCIS partner institutions and friends.
  • Kristiansand, Norway, 2016

    ERCIS DC 2016

    The 2016 version of the ERCIS DC took place in Kristiansand, Norway, following the Annual Workshop.

    We had seven students presenting their current research status:

    • Peter Busch, University of Agder
    • Carlos Costa, University of Minho
    • Geir Hausvik, University of Agder
    • Moritz von Hoffen, University of Münster
    • Aleksandra Lazareva, University of Agder
    • Tanja Merfeld, University of Münster
    • Hendrik Scholta, University of Muenster
    • Zhiwei Yang, University of Leiden

    The faculty of the DC were

    • João Alvaro Carvalho, University of Minho
    • Devendra Bahadur Thapa, University of Agder
    • Jörg Becker, University of Münster
    • Jan vom Brocke, University of Liechtenstein
    • Robert Winter, University of St. Gallen
    • Sara Hofmann, University of Bremen
    • Oliver Müller, IT University Copenhagen
    • Maung Sein, University of Agder
  • Rome, Italy, 2014

    Akkordeon-Text
  • Ijselmeer, The Netherlands, 2008

    Akkordeon-Text