The IR Workshop

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The International Relations Workshop (POLI 283) meets in the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters every year. The meetings are usually held every other week, but the dates might vary: the Workshop Leader will provide the schedule at the beginning of each quarter. All graduate students (including those in their first year in the program) whose first field is International Relations must enroll and participate. Students from other fields can also participate upon request. The workshop has as its goal the promotion of cooperative learning among the different cohorts of IR students. It provides a low-key forum in which students can present their research to fellow graduate students and the IR faculty.

Click here to see this year's schedule!

Enrolled students are expected to attend all meetings of the workshop listed above. A few additional meetings will be held for third-year students who are developing prospectus drafts. All students will also be expected to serve as a discussant for at least one workshop presentation. Second-year students will present a seminar paper in winter quarter or spring quarter. Each third-year student will present a draft dissertation prospectus by the beginning of spring quarter and again at the Annual IR Retreat. Fourth-year and more senior students should present a conference paper, a dissertation chapter, or a practice job talk early in the year. All work that is presented should be circulated in advance of the workshop. First-year students are welcome to present in the workshop, but they are not required to do so. They will be called upon to serve as discussants, however, and they should attend all workshop sessions.

Several times each year, a faculty member (visiting or one of our own) will present work in progress. These meetings will aim to provide presenters with structured and focused feedback but also show the "nuts & bolts" of research-in-progress to the students.