CERES

REES studies on the Stockholm ferry

Final Programme

The fourth floating seminar addressed methodological questions in Russian and Eastern European Studies. The ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm in the end of October 2011 was packed with over 60 PhD candidates and senior researchers from Northern Europe – from Scotland through Denmark, Norway and Sweden to Finland. The event was a nice balance of lectures and panels by senior researchers and workshops, where all the 36 PhD candidates had a chance to present their papers focussing on methodology.

The keynote lecture by Professor Terry Cox (University of Glasgow), entitled Between Theory and Methods: The missing link, was a perfect opening for the event – Professor Cox discussed the pros and cons of four research strategies (inductive, deductive, abductive, retroductive) with examples in area studies. The two panels entitled Methods & More – Presentations by Senior Researchers offered various topics such as methodology in Russian cultural studies (presented by Dr Sanna Turoma), using quantitative sources in research on Eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea Region (Professor Joakim Ekman), studying personal networks in Russia (Dr Markku Lonkila),unveiling the secrets of archives (Dr Jonathan Oldfield), studying the language of intersectionality (Dr Francesca Stella) and modernist and post-modernist views on history (Dr Katalin Miklóssy). Dr Sean Roberts dealt with the post-Soviet political context and shed light on the sometimes tricky ethical questions that a researcher might face when conducting expert/elite interviews. Source criticism was covered by Professor Anu Mai Köll. Dr Jakub Godzimirski presented various ways for surviving in an information jungle, retrieving and organising information from various sources. The seniors' concrete and illustrative presentations provided glimpses on everyday research methodologies, all the while containing various helpful hints for the PhD students.

Although the academic programme was extensive, the participants had a chance for informal networking as well: plenty of new contacts were formed and future cooperation plans were discussed in conversations during the meals. After the event, both the organisers and the participants concurred that it had been a highly useful and memorable event for everyone involved. The Finnish Graduate Programme for REES hopes to continue the floating seminar tradition with its international networks also in the future.

The event was organised in the framework of the Nordic Ceres network, funded by NordForsk. To receive the abstract book of the event or the senior researchers' presentations, please send an e-mail to Eeva Korteniemi.

Eeva Korteniemi and Hanna Ruutu