CIRGE

CIRGE Talk Series

Committing Ourselves to Social Justice: Doctoral Education for Complex Times

In times of rising nationalist governments, environmental crisis, and hate speech and acts against marginalized communities, doctoral education has a responsibility in questioning the norms and values that cause inequality and exclusion in society at the local, national and global level.

Doctorate education is the most advanced degree of education that individuals can achieve and one of the spaces where different type knowledges are discovered, passed and re-interpreted. These roles give doctorate education a unique access to individuals and institutions that are in positions of authority in different nations, and consequently, an extra responsibility to work toward democracy, inclusion, diversity and equity, short: social justice.

Actors and institutions involved in doctoral education are called to reveal and question the pivotal forces underlying manifestations of injustices through the multiple processes of research, teaching and interactions with different social communities.

With the goal to make visible the role that doctorate education plays in questioning systems of exclusion and inequality, the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education (CIRGE) is inviting scholars across the world to participate in the CIRGE Talk Series “Committing Ourselves to Social Justice: Doctoral Education for Complex Times”. This series aims to understand the structures, practices and pedagogies that would need to be addressed in different context, with a commitment toward social justice.

On that note, CIRGE acknowledges that the meaning of social justice is tied to specific political and cultural contexts. Rather than starting with a (single) definition, the CIRGE series wants to begin an open investigation of what “social justice” would look like for various academic disciplines and university communities across the world.

Some topics addressed in this series

  • What are the institutional and disciplinary structures that need to be addressed in the formation of scholars to make visible the commitment of doctorate education toward social justice?
  • What are the possibilities and limits to exercise aspects of social justice existing in your institution?
  • What do we know about issues of access, retention and graduation rates in doctorate education among different populations, and in different countries?
  • Whose knowledge counts in doctorate education? Who benefits from the knowledge produced?
  • How would a call for grant proposals look like that allow for research on issues of social justice?

CIRGE Talks Agenda