The Call for Papers for the Eighth Joint Doctoral Conference is open.
More Information can also be found on the conference website.
The Eighth edition of the Joint Doctoral Conference invites early-career and senior researchers in sociology and related disciplines of social research to gather for two days of academic discussion, feedback and collaborative exchange.
This year, the two-day conference will take place in Tilburg, the Netherlands, on 26–27 November 2026. This event is organized by the Department of Sociology at Tilburg University.
The annual conference offers PhD candidates a supportive and engaging environment in which to present their research, discover and discuss the work of their peers and receive constructive feedback from senior researchers.
The Joint Doctoral Conference began as a collaboration between the Universities of Bamberg, Milan, Pompeu Fabra, Tilburg and Trento, and has since grown into an established international platform for doctoral collaboration. We warmly welcome PhD researchers from both within and beyond this network to Tilburg to share their research, expand their academic networks and contribute to a growing community of emerging social scientists.
Submissions are invited in the form of either paper or poster presentations. You may indicate your personal preference beforehand in the Qualtrics form. We aim to accommodate your request but will organize the conference based on the submissions received. Contributions may be empirical or theoretical and can be submitted at any stage of the research process.
If you would like to present during the conference, please submit an extended abstract (2-3 pages, references excluded, in .pdf format) via this Qualtrics form. Participants are encouraged to act as a discussant of one paper during the conference. Please indicate your availability for this role in the form.
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 1st of May, 2026.
After this deadline, the Committee will decide on the papers selected for the conference and will inform you about the outcome of this decision at the beginning of June. If you are selected to participate in the conference as a presenter, you must submit a full paper (or near-final draft) ahead of the conference so that a discussant can read and provide detailed feedback on your work. The deadline for the submission of your full paper is November 2nd. Please note that individuals presenting posters do not need to submit their entire paper ahead of the conference.
The participation fee is 50 euros. This includes lunch and coffee breaks; it does not include dinner and accommodation. Our cancellation policy ensures that, should you cancel your participation before November 11th, your participation fee will be refunded in full. Cancellations after this date will not be refunded.
For any questions, feel free to contact us at: Phdconference2026@tilburguniversity.edu
We look forward to welcoming you to Tilburg!
Kind regards,
The Organizing Committee
Iman Delimustafić, Inbar Eliav-Paran, Mine Kühn, Adrian Kunz, Romy Oomens, Ben Scane, Elif Şeyban, Tessa Veraart and Franca Witlox.
Timeline
Submission of abstracts via Qualtrics form: May 1st
Registration deadline: August 1st
Submission of complete paper: November 2nd
Conference dates: November 26th – 27th