A Guide to Hosting a Doctoral Conference: How We (Ph.D. Students) Hosted a (Virtual) Conference During the Pandemic

18 Pages Posted: 6 Jul 2021

See all articles by AJ Chen

AJ Chen

Marshall School of Business - University of Southern California; University of British Columbia (UBC)

Fangfei Shu

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business

Bo Yang

University of Southern California - Management and Organization Department

Zhao Zhang

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Date Written: July 1, 2021

Abstract

We organized a doctoral symposium in April 2021. This was a student-run program, which provided opportunities for Ph.D. students interested in studying business and institutions in China to present their work, collect feedback, and network with other students and faculty members who share similar interests. We accumulated some knowledge about how to organize a (virtual) academic conference. This article summarizes our experiences. We hope to achieve two goals. First, we hope that this guide provides some public good to the research community, especially Ph.D. students, informing them on how to design and organize small-scale academic conferences and workshops. We provide detailed procedures and include relevant materials, including the call for papers, email communications, and final agenda for readers’ reference. Second, as COVID-19 has significantly reduced travel frequency for academic researchers and suspended many in-person academic meetings, we hope that this guide will help encourage researchers to explore additional channels for academic exchanges and promote research collaboration in these challenging times.

Keywords: Online academic meetings, doctoral conferences, COVID-19

Suggested Citation

Chen, AJ and Shu, Fangfei and Yang, Bo and Zhang, Zhao, A Guide to Hosting a Doctoral Conference: How We (Ph.D. Students) Hosted a (Virtual) Conference During the Pandemic (July 1, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3877902 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3877902

AJ Chen (Contact Author)

Marshall School of Business - University of Southern California ( email )

701 Exposition Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

University of British Columbia (UBC) ( email )

2329 West Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Fangfei Shu

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business ( email )

Los Angeles, CA
United States

Bo Yang

University of Southern California - Management and Organization Department ( email )

United States

Zhao Zhang

International Monetary Fund (IMF) ( email )

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