Summer Doctoral Programme
The annual Summer Doctoral Programme (SDP) is the highlight of the OII's year. It brings together doctoral students from around the world for a fortnight of study with leading academics in a multi-disciplinary environment that aims to provide constructive advice and support for students' doctoral thesis research.
The programme is structured around daily lectures, seminars and tutorials, aimed at developing student thinking on a range of issues central to the Internet. Students also have the opportunity to present and discuss their own thesis research with faculty and students.
The atmosphere is open, exciting, challenging, and intense (read the SDP (2003-2009): Recap, attempted). Students meet and work with a diverse group of their peers (a considerable benefit where students may not have large academic peer-groups in their own departments) and are exposed to a range of different disciplinary research cultures, perspectives and ideas. A range of social events provide a more informal opportunity for students and faculty to get to know each other, and to continue discussions. Student feedback for the programme has been consistently excellent.
Launched in 2003, the Summer Doctoral Programme has enjoyed three overseas stints so far (Beijing 2005, Boston 2007, and Brisbane 2009) and has already gathered an impressive group of alumni. The benefits of taking part in the programme extend far beyond the fortnight: students often form research collaborations and maintain research contact afterwards.
In the words of the SDP Convenor, Dr Victoria Nash: "What has most thrilled me over the past seven years is not the calibre of the participants (generally outstanding) or the range of tutors we have been able to attract (pretty stellar). No, it's what comes out of the Programme at the end of the two weeks - genuine lasting friendships and strong academic partnerships that have generated some really great results." To join the growing SDP community: make sure to apply!
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News
The Summer Doctoral Program and Toronto: The Meeting Place is the Message
16 February 2013 SDP Blog
OII Research Fellow Bernie Hogan is a regular fixture on the OII’s Summer Doctoral Programme, tutoring and leading seminars on social networking. Having obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto he is well-placed to comment on this summer’s SDP, which is being hosted by the University of Toronto’s iSchool. So why is Toronto such [...]
12 February 2013 SDP Blog
Jaz Hee-jeong Choi is the Deputy Director of the Urban Informatics Research Lab, QUT. Her research interests are in playful technology, particularly the ways in which various forms of playful interaction are designed, developed, and integrated in different cultural contexts; her current research explores designing for playful interactions to cultivate sustainable food culture in urban [...]
Advice to candidates: How do I know if the SDP is right for me?
6 February 2013 SDP Blog
The OII’s Summer Doctoral Programme brings together doctoral students from around the world for a fortnight of study with leading academics in a multi-disciplinary environment that aims to provide constructive advice and support for students’ doctoral thesis research. SDP Director Dr Victoria Nash answers the questions of a theoretical ‘prospective candidate’ (PC)… PC: The OII’s [...]
4 February 2013 SDP Blog
It’s always nice to hear from SDP alumni; to find out why they applied, what they got out of the programme, and what they are up to now. Ryan Biava is a PhD Candidate in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; this is what he had to say about his time in Oxford as [...]
Advice to candidates: what makes a great Summer Doctoral Programme application?
18 January 2013 SDP Blog
What is expected in applications for the OII’s Summer Doctoral Programme? How can you make your application stand out? We talk to SDP Director Dr Victoria Nash, who has the following advice for doctoral students who are thinking about applying to the programme. She writes: The three main criteria for acceptance onto the SDP are [...]
8 January 2013 SDP Blog
The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is delighted to announce that its eleventh annual Summer Doctoral Programme (SDP) will be held in collaboration with the iSchool at the University of Toronto from 8-19 July 2013. Professor Seamus Ross, Dean of the iSchool, and a previous Visiting Fellow at OII, welcomed the collaboration saying: “The opportunity for the UofT iSchool to [...]
30 July 2012 SDP Blog
In 2012 we held the 10th OII Summer Doctoral Programme. To mark this anniversary we held a conference to reflect on the past ten years’ work, where we invited SDP alumni to present their current research alongside this year’s SDP participants. In the closing session Jeremy Hunsinger (Wilfrid Laurier University) gave a fascinating overview of [...]
Fasten your seat belts for the Internet Research Methods Ghost Tour… (SDP Anniversary Conference)
30 July 2012 SDP Blog
Since SDP2009 the students have been encouraged to produce a ‘legacy project’ as a group outcome of each year; sometime serious (books), sometimes not-so-serious (raps), always interesting. During the SDP’s tenth anniversary conference there was much discussion about the last ten years of Internet research; one of the conference’s themes. It was great to welcome [...]
Last updated on: 14 January 2013
