Call for Writing Support Programme

The NEXTGATE is launching a mentorship programme aiming specifically at supporting emerging scholars in environmental history and humanities in their writing process.

We all, as scholars, have experienced the challenges that outlining a paper and strengthening its argument imply. Making a paper publishable is even a more complicated process. At the same time, we all have experienced the benefits of involving others in our writing process by sharing our work in progress.

The ESEH NEXTGATe calls for scholars interested to form and join a Writers’ Group. In particular, the team is looking for:
– 12 Early Career Researchers (ECRs) willing to share their paper or chapters drafts;
– 6 senior scholars willing to act as discussants and facilitators.

ECRs – including graduate, post-graduate and PhD students and non-tenured researchers – are welcome to share their draft articles and chapters (max length of 10000 words and at least one week in advance) prior to submission and invited to read  and comment on other participants’ texts.
Facilitated by a senior member of the ESEH, sessions are organised virtually on a monthly basis from January to June. Each session discusses two papers and lasts 1.5 hours (45 minutes per paper).
This mentorship programme aims to provide ECRs with a supportive setting for obtaining focused, hands-on peer feedback on their work. The peer feedback and group discussion push the writing process forward, boost output and, finally yet importantly, strengthen the community of European environmental historians.

To express your interest in sharing your work send an email to Andrea Gaynor at andrea.gaynor@uwa.edu.au including the following information:
– name and affiliation;
– type of publication (Article or chapter; the publication venue);
– abstract of max 200 words;
– month you would like to present.

Expressions of interest are welcomed from 16 November to 10 January.

The Mentorship Programme is coordinated by:

– Roberta Biasillo, European University Institute, Florence, Italy (roberta.biasillo@eui.eu);
– Andrea Gaynor, The University of Western Australia (andrea.gaynor@uwa.edu.au);
– Elena Kochetkova, Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia (ekochetkova@hse.ru);
– Simone Schleper, Maastricht University, Netherlands (simone.schleper@maastrichtuniversity.nl);
– Noémi Ujházy, Geographical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary (unoemi@gmail.com).

Feel free to contact the coordinators for further information.