Time and place: 25 August, 2025 9:00 AM – 29 August, 2025 5:00 PM, Bergen

Join the one-week intense SCANCOR PhD course on institutional analysis organized by SCANCOR – Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research and hosted by the Department of Government at the University of Bergen.

During the morning lectures, open to the public, leading international as well as local faculty present and discuss recent research within the field of institutional theory.

Afternoon sessions with leading international faculty are limited to PhD candidates who successfully apply to the workshop.

At the 21^st SCANCOR PhD course on Institutional Analysis international faculty will present recent and ongoing research, the current state of institutional theory, and discuss future directions and methodological tools that deepen the institutional agenda. Special attention is given to contemporary social, political, and economic challenges as well as challenges of theorizing to understand institutional change. We approach these challenges from a wide range of theoretical lenses including temporal dynamics, power, world society, or social movement theory.

Students will take away new insights and tools, along with a deeper understanding of how to match conceptual questions with research methods. The workshop will prepare PhD students to carry out their own individual research using approaches from institutional analysis. Previous workshops were hosted at University of Hamburg, University of Oslo, Stanford University, Copenhagen Business School, IESE Barcelona, University of Mannheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, EMLYON Business School, Stockholm School of Economics, WU Vienna, and Aalto University.

The programme consists of two parts each day:

• In public morning lectures (2 each day), international and local faculty will present and discuss research within the field of institutional theory. The lectures in the morning are open to the public and as such guests are welcome. Guests may also watch the lectures online, as we will be streaming them. All PhD candidates participating in the course are required to participate in person.

• Afternoon course sessions with international faculty are limited to the selected PhD participants. These sessions are devoted to discussing both classic and contemporary theoretical developments within institutional theory and in person participation is required.

International teaching Faculty of the PhD course

• Bruce Carruthers, Northwestern University

• Gili Drori, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Renate Meyer, WU Vienna

• Woody Powell, Stanford University

• Sarah Soule, Stanford University

Local teaching Faculty of the PhD course to be determined.

Submit Application here

Practical information

Application deadline: 25 April 2025

Course Credit: 5 ECTS points

Cost: There is no course fee; selected participants are provided a welcome reception, lunches, and a graduation dinner.

Language: English

Compulsory activities

• Read the literature (approximately 1000 pages) in advance of the course
• Attend and participate actively in lectures and seminars

Contact

Martina Vukasovic – Department of Government, University of Bergen

Funding 

The PhD course is supported through funding from the NFR INPART- project SCANCOR-NEWORG, funded by the Norwegian Research Council’s INPART, under grant number 322368