1st ECPR Graduate Conference on

Contentious Politics

The ECPR is pleased to announce its first Graduate Conference, which will take place at the University of Essex from 7-9 September 2006 and will run in alternate years. All panels, round tables, registration and the book exhibition will be located at the University of Essex, and campus accommodation will be available. This is an excellent opportunity for graduate students to come together from all over Europe to share their work and experience by presenting papers or by simply observing, and as with all ECPR conferences, there will be a number of social events.

Unfortunately, Professor Charles Tilly of Columbia University, whose work inspires the overall theme of the conference, has had to withdraw from the conference. Sidney Tarrow (Cornell University), Tilly's collaborator in their Dynamics of Contention and, most recently, in  Contentious Politics, has very kindly agreed to replace him as keynote speaker. Tarrow will speak on "Crossing Boundaries: Political Contention in Composite Regimes." Like the ECPRs general conference, the conference format will consist of open and themed panels, with the topics covered being as broad as possible. There will also be a number of roundtables of invited speakers on such issues as getting published and doctoral training.

The academic convenors of the conference are Erik Neveu (IEP de Rennes), member of the ECPR 's Executive Committee and Jennifer Sands (University of Leeds), member of the ECPR's Graduate Network.

Further information will be available on this website during the next few months. General enquiries may be made to ecpr@essex.ac.uk and regular announcements will also be sent out in the ECPR 's monthly email bulletin.