Doctoral Consortium: Call for Submissions 

Important dates

January 17, 2025

Applications due

Mid-February 2025

Notifications of acceptance and revisions

Early March 2025

Final submissions for publication due (camera ready)

June 9–10, 2025

Doctoral Consortium

June 10–13, 2025

ISLS Annual Meeting 2025

Workshop Description 

The ISLS Doctoral Consortium, designed to support the growth of emerging talents working in the learning sciences or computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), provides an opportunity for advanced Ph.D. students to share their dissertation research with their peers and a panel of faculty serving as mentors. Participants will engage in collaborative inquiry and scholarly discourse to improve their dissertation work and to advance their understanding of the field. To benefit from the ISLS Doctoral Consortium, applicants should be advanced graduate students, and be at a stage in their dissertation research, where they have a clear research question, they have gathered data, and they have at least preliminary findings. At this point, the participants and mentors may be of help in shaping and framing the research and analysis activities. 

The ISLS Doctoral Consortium (DC) aims to: 

• Provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on their dissertation research and to identify problems/issues for discussion and inquiry; 

• Provide a setting for participants to contribute ideas and receive feedback and guidance on their current research; 

• Provide a forum for discussing theoretical and methodological issues of central importance to the learning sciences or CSCL; 

• Develop a network of supportive scholars in the learning sciences and CSCL across countries and continents; 

• Collaborate and draw upon literature across countries and institutions; 

• Contribute to the conference experience of participating students through interaction with other participants, mentors, and organizers; and 

• Support emerging researchers in their effort to enter the learning sciences / CSCL research community. 

ISLS Doctoral Consortium activities are organized as an in-person workshop with diverse activities. Participants will have opportunities to familiarize each other with their dissertation project and highlight specific aspects they would like to have further discussion on. Based on the common issues and themes identified (theoretical models, research design and questions, pedagogy and technology, data collection, methods of analysis, etc.) participants will receive support from expert mentors to engage in further inquiry and discussion. Participants will work on various problems and issues identified, make reference to their own dissertation project and the broader field of the Learning Sciences or CSCL. 

The ISLS Doctoral Consortium will involve a 1.5-day event on June 9–10, 2025 during the ISLS Annual Meeting in Helsinki, Finland. Financial support may be available to offset some of the costs to attendees. More information will be provided soon. Prior to the workshop, a few preparatory activities (for example, a Zoom meeting or sharing written materials) are required to enable us to use the time within the workshop as best as possible.  

Application Instructions 

Who should apply? 

The ISLS Doctoral Consortium is open to those Ph.D. candidates who are most likely to benefit from the intended goals through collaborative interaction. Typically, applicants will have completed their dissertation proposal (or equivalent), have a clear research question and have gathered data, and be at a stage in their work where consortium participation may be of help in refining the design of their study or in focusing data analysis. If you are early in your program (i.e., no data gathered yet) or you will have completed your dissertation at or around the time of the consortium, you should not apply. 

How to apply? 

Participants of the ISLS Doctoral Consortium will be selected on the basis of the academic quality of their proposal; level of progress on their dissertation (data should be already gathered and preliminary findings should be available for discussion); relevance and potential contribution to the field of the learning sciences or CSCL; recommendation from the advisor (supervisor); and their anticipated contribution to the workshop goals. The proposals will be reviewed by international experts in the field. An effort will be made to keep the participating group small to encourage interaction and collaboration. 

To apply, please submit one PDF document containing the following three sections: 

1. A cover sheet with your name, title of your research project/dissertation, your advisor’s name (or thesis chair’s name, as appropriate), your institution, personal webpage, email address, and mailing address. 
2. A one-page personal statement that includes: (a) a little about yourself; (b) current status of your research and studies, including your anticipated timeline for completing and defending your dissertation; (c) why you want to participate in the DC; (d) what specific issues or challenges with your research you would like to explore further. You do not necessarily need these as headings, as long as the issues are addressed. 
3. A two-page summary (max. 1200 words) of your research including data presented in an appropriate format (such as tables or figures) and references using the ISLS Template and following ISLS Author Guidelines and ISLS Submission Tips. The summary should include: (a) Abstract; (b) Goals of the research; (c) Background of the project; (d) Methodology; (e) Data gathered and preliminary or expected findings; (f) Expected contributions. You do not necessarily need these as headings, as long as the issues are addressed. If accepted, you will be asked to revise your paper upon feedback from the reviewers before it can appear in the conference proceedings. 

In addition, submitted through e-mail separately: 

• A letter of recommendation from your advisor/ supervisor.  Please have your advisor / supervisor submit the letter of recommendation directly to all organizers [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) in one email using the subject “DC recommendation + <name of the applicant>”. 

Please submit all papers in one file in PDF format. The application should be submitted via EasyChair at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=isls2025 by 17 January 2025, 23:59 AOE.