Call for abstracts: PhD Symposium on Law and Security

Hosted by CERES, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.

The Centre for Law and Security (CERES) invites PhD candidates and doctoral students from all disciplines with an interest in law and security to a half-day PhD symposium. The symposium takes place in connection with the Conference on Law and Security, held at the University of Copenhagen.

Call

If you wish to participate in the PhD symposium, you must submit an abstract of approximately two standard pages (4,800 characters including spaces) containing the following:

  • A brief account of your research project, including topic, research questions, methodology, and structure.

  • The formulation of 1-3 theses framing your (expected) research contribution. These theses should be concise statements indicating what you expect – on the basis of your project – to be able to conclude with relevance for legal scholarship.

  • Brief reflections on security perspectives relevant to your project.

At the symposium, participants will present their research project, theses, and security perspectives based on their abstract. Each participant will also serve as discussant on one of the other contributions and will be asked to formulate constructive critical questions and counter‑theses on the abstract and presentation.

Additionally, a faculty member will steer the sessions and provide feedback on methodological issues of the projects.

PhD candidates and doctoral students with academically advanced abstracts on a relevant theme will be offered the opportunity to present their work at the main conference as well (see above).

Abstracts must be submitted to the organisers (see below) no later than 1 May 2026.

Abstracts and presentations must be in English.

Practical details

The detailed programme and further instructions for preparation will follow once all applications have been reviewed by the organisers.

Participation in the symposium is free of charge. Lunch and refreshments will be provided by the PhD School at the Faculty of Law.  

The PhD symposium (active participation in the symposium + participation in the main conference) corresponds to a workload of 1 ECTS credit (to be confirmed), and a course certificate will be issued.

If participants present their work at the main conference, they will receive an extra 0,5 ECTS credit (to be confirmed), leaving the participant with a total of 1,5 ECTS credits (to be confirmed).

Contact

For questions, please contact organisers: