منحة مجانية للمشاركة في المدرسة الشتوية

 Law and Society Studies: the theories, methodologies, and ethics of research

The Law and Society Research Unit Winter School

January 2021

The American University in Cairo’s Law and Society Research Unit will be holding its fourth school from 9 to 13 February 2021. Traditionally, LSRU holds its schools during summer, however, due to the interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic it has been postponed this year and will take place during winter.

This year, the school seeks to introduce participants to the field of Law and Society Research; a relatively new interdisciplinary field of research that is based on the use of well-known theories and research methods of the social sciences (economics, history, sociology, psychology, political science, and international relations) in studying the various legal institutions, ideas and practices as complex social phenomena that cannot be isolated from their social context.

Over the past few years, this field has flourished and accumulated work that can be of benefit to researchers and legal practitioners in Egypt, especially in deepening their view of the legal field.

The school seeks to train participants on how to apply social research methods and tools in their knowledge production process, whether in the form of research papers, policy papers, reports or even defense notes, legal opinions or judicial rulings and opinions. LSRU will also be publishing some of the participants’ work on its website or in its print publications.

Topics that will be explored by the school this year include:

• Introduction to the origin and development of Law and Society Studies and the main concepts and literature on which it is based.

• The methodology, tools and steps of social research, its ethics, and how to benefit from them in studying legal concepts, institutions, and practices.

• A review of a selected number of pilot studies in the field of Law and Society, chosen from different socio-economic contexts.

• Formulating a list of topics and potential research questions in the field of Law and Society in Egypt.

Professors and practitioners specialized in local and global affairs will be conducting the training. Participants are obligated to submit a research proposal or publication by the end of the winter school, which will be supervised by experts from the field.

The LSRU winter school will be accepting applications from lawyers, judges, journalists specialized in the legal affairs, civil society activists, and graduate students in the master's or doctoral levels. Exceptions can also be made to some students in the final years of their bachelor’s degree.

The winter school will be held at the Germany University in Gouna, Hurghada, between 9 and 13 February 2021. Strict safety and health regulations will be applied at the university. The health situation will also be monitored until the set date and if needed the winter school will be held online.

Arabic will be the language of instruction. Attendance of all the school days is obligatory to pass.

Application requirements include an updated CV and a cover letter introducing a research project that may be developed during the school (max 400 words).

The applications should be sent to LSR@aucegypt.edu

not later than 7 January 2021. An email will be sent to the accepted applicants by 16 January 2021, including a detailed program of the winter school.

Accepted applicants will receive a full scholarship to participate in the winter school, covered by the Swiss Embassy in Cairo’s Enhancing State-Society Engagement (ESSE) project.