Abstract Submission Deadline: December 25, 2011

NATSA Scholar Workshop abstract submission rules
Application for NATSA Scholar Workshop

In last year’s NATSA conference, we developed the concept of Special Workshop as an experiment to test NATSA’s potential as a multi-disciplinary platform. The Special Workshop was designed for people who were interested in getting feedback for their research projects or dissertations but uncertain if their research fit well with the conference theme. This year NATSA is planning to further expand the idea of discipline-based platforms. Therefore, in addition to the Call for Papers/Panels, which is a thematic invitation, the NATSA 2012 annual conference will continue to provide an alternative channel for participation, which is now renamed as the NATSA Scholar Workshop.

The first NATSA Scholar Workshop targets scholars in Anthropology, Film Studies, Literature, and Political Science. These areas have been selected in order to provide a better match of interests between participants in the Workshop and scholars who we have invited to attend the 2012 conference (please see here for the complete list of invited scholars). If admitted, each participant in the Workshop will be assigned an invited scholar as a discussant. In so doing, we hope to foster an intellectual dialogue and maximize useful feedback that each participant could recieve.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

The Workshop is open for researchers in the following categories (listed according to priority in the selection process):

1. Scholars in targeted disciplines who have received their degrees and obtained an academic position, such as post-doc fellows, research fellows, and faculty members, are eligible to apply if they have a RECENT or FORTHCOMING PUBLICATION that they would like to present. Applicants will be required to provide the citation of the publication via our online submission system. Alternative formats of publication, such as films or photography, are also highly welcomed.
   
   
2. We also encourage Ph. D. students to present their dissertation or publications derived from their dissertation. The purpose of having this category is to benefit emerging scholars in the early stage of their academic training. We hope to offer these young scholars a venue to receive feedback for their dissertation proposal, field research plan, or dissertation in progress. Also, we hope this workshop could serve as a training opportunity for their oral defense and job talks.
   
   The selection of applicants to this category will be based on the following list of priority: a) Ph.D. students who have received degrees and are awaiting job talks; b) Ph.D. students who are awaiting oral defense; c) Ph.D. students who are in the process of writing dissertation; and d) Ph.D. students who are in the process of collecting data or conducting fieldwork. If applicants intend to present a publication derived from their dissertation, please provide the citation of the publication via our online submission system.
   
   
3. Scholars in targeted disciplines who have received their degrees and obtained an academic position, like those in category 1, can also apply if they have a research project that is currently in progress.
   
   
4. Ph. D. students who have research projects independent of their dissertation are also eligible to apply. However, the priority will be given to applicants in other categories.

There will be no peer-review process for applicants to the Workshop. Instead, the selection will be based on the following three non-merit-based criteria: 1) the list of priority laid out above; and 2) the availability of invited scholars whose expertise matches applicants’ research interests . In order to guarantee that all Workshop participants receive our travel grant, we are likely to limit the total number of participants to 10 to 15 people due to our limited budget.

How to Apply

There is no keyword for this Workshop. Applicants should submit a 500-word abstract detailing the issues, methodology, findings, and contributions of their research projects or publications. Applicants are also required to submit their updated Curriculum Vitae. The result of application will be announced in early February, 2012. If admitted, participants would be required to submit and upload a maximum of 20 pages of material to facilitate workshop discussion. The content and format of such material is not limited. Applicants are also encouraged to share their personal experiences and the challenges they have faced during their research. The workshop is open to researchers from all over the world, provided that they are working in these disciplines and their research subjects are Taiwan-related. Comparative research that touches on Taiwan is strongly encouraged. However, due to our limited budget which restricts our capacity to offer travel grant, we will very likely keep the total number of Workshop participants under 15.

Required Materials

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. An abstract of your recent or forthcoming publication, dissertation, or other research project in progress (no longer than 500 words).
3. For scholars who plan to present their recent or forthcoming publication, please include the citation of the publication in the abstract.