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Call For Hosts (February 2018)

WISC EXPLORATORY WORKSHOPS 2018-2019

The aim of “WISC Exploratory Workshops” is to complement WISC’s activities beyond the major global conferences taking place every three years. For this purpose WISC has set aside funding in order to co-sponsor activities by WISC member associations or other initiatives in the field of International Studies, especially in the Global South. Past workshops have taken place in Cancún, Delhi, Taipei, Goa and Johannesburg.

This “Call” invites WISC member associations, IR departments or other institutions or initiatives in the field of International Studies to submit applications for hosting workshops. The format for the envisaged “Exploratory Workshops” is flexible as far as size and thematic focus is concerned. Ideally the workshops should take place in the Global South and provide an opportunity for participants, especially from the Global South, to meet in order to explore themes of common interest in international studies. Participants can, for instance, meet to explore one overarching theme or they can gather in smaller groups in parallel on separate projects ranging from exploring initial ideas for collaborative research projects based on memos or “thinking pieces” by participants to the presentation of full-fledged papers on more advanced collaborative projects. The envisaged time for these workshops to take place is the second half of 2018 or 2019.

In their application prospective hosts should

  • specify a venue in an accessible location in the Global South;
  • specify the dates, format and thematic focus/ foci of the workshop(s);
  • name an individual responsible for all aspects of local organization;
  • be ready to organize all aspects of the respective workshops locally (lodging, board, meeting rooms etc.);
  • indicate what financial and/or in-kind resources will be mobilized locally to subsidize the event in addition to what WISC will be able to provide;
  • provide a budget detailing all local costs (including rough estimates of travel expenses of possible participants) as well as sources and amounts of financial and/or in-kind resources to subsidize the “Exploratory Workshops”.

WISC will sign a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the successful host(s) detailing the respective commitments. This Memorandum will also spell out the overall financial support to be provided by WISC. Since the calculation of costs to WISC depends on the number of workshops and the home base of the participating scholars (and their individual budgets) the financial part of the Memorandum can only be finalized (as far as WISC’s contribution is concerned) when the actual workshop participants have been accepted. WISC expects that its subsidies are used economically and that participants demonstrate a genuine interest in participating in these workshops by covering a certain portion of the overall cost from their personal resources.

Queries about initial ideas for hosting workshops and/ or applications should be addressed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The deadline has been extended until June 15, 2018.

Decisions will be communicated in July 2018.


Please feel free to circulate this “Call” widely.


Guidelines for WISC Workshops

The goal of WISC workshops should be to further develop a global community of International Studies with a particular focus on those countries, regions and IR associations/ institutions that have started or are willing to reach a more visible role in our discipline and to increase cooperation as related to teaching and research. In working towards that goal WISC aims at optimizing synergies with and among its members.

WISC has tried different forms of collaboration in workshops in Cancun, Delhi, Goa and Johannesburg. Based on the lessons learned, WISC will be guided by the following principles in its decision-making processes on workshops:

a) Location: WISC decides on locations for WISC-sponsored workshops based on a) proposals received from IR institutions or IR regional associations, and/or b) open calls. Workshops entail a shared responsibility between the local association/institution and WISC.

b) Participants in workshops: In order to reach out to larger and more plural audiences, “calls” should in principle be open to all interested scholars based on the subjects and the deadlines determined for each workshop.

c) Thematic areas: The main goal is to explore research projects in IR which provide innovative and pluralistic perspectives. WISC is open to all types of theories and methodologies and does not side with any particular perspective or approach.

d) Financial support: Local organizers and/or participants will provide most of the logistical and financial support.  WISC financial contribution will vary depending on particular cases.

e) Output: The expectation is that the workshop will produce some type of output (eg. publication, initiation of research networks, subsequent regional conference, etc.).

f) Globalizing local IR communities: WISC focuses on facilitating cooperation among and incentivizing of IR communities and welcomes the work and initiatives of local organizers of different types (institutions, WISC members, etc.).