Letter from the President
This year will be a busy year for RC33. We will have our own RC33 Conference in Cyprus in September. When I look at this year’s program for all conferences that are related to Methods and Logistics in social sciences, I feel that there are so many conferences that RC33 has to compete with. And budget for most scholars is limited, so most scholars are only able to go to one or two conferences a year. We have made sure we are a great choice to spend your conference budget by choosing a wonderful location for our RC33 conference. Not only do we have a great location, the friendly culture in combination with the sea and beaches of Cyprus will make sure we will have a great time. In the beginning of September the weather will, most likely, be great, and hopefully most scholars can find time before teaching starts. Unfortunately, in the Netherlands, we have already started our teaching in September, so I am grateful for all Dutch people – but also others such as German scholars who also typically have to start early- when they attend our conference.
I am very proud to announce that RC33 is also contributing to the vast increase in the number of conferences related to Methods and Logistics in the Social Sciences. Thanks to our former president Nina Baur, who applied for funding in the context of DAAD Exceed Program, I am happy to inform you that Nina and her colleagues were able to get funding to set up the “Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS). For RC33, this means that in addition to our regional conference in Asia (Japan 2021) we have three additional regional conferences:
· March/April 2021 in Botswana (local organizer: Gabriel Faimau)
· March/April 2022 in Brazil (local organizer: Fraya Frehse)
· March/April 2023 in India (local organizer: Gaurav Raheja)
The funding will be able to offer conferences without conference fees and get travel funding for something around 75 scholars from developing countries. The Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability” (GCSMUS) together with the Research Committee on “Logic and Methodology in Sociology” (RC33) of the “International Sociology Association” (ISA) and the Research Network “Quantitative Methods” (RN21) of the European Sociology Association” (ESA) will thus organize a “1st GCSMUS International Conference” which will at the same time be the “1st RC33 Regional Conference – Africa: Botswana” in 2021 at the University of Botswana in Gaborone. The programme will include advanced methodological training courses, Ph.D. workshops and a social programme. There will be travel grants for GCSMUS members and African scholars can apply for.
Our joint efforts to be more inclusive for non-Western scholars will undoubtedly pay-off. I am very proud that RC33 is able to join this initiative, and I hope that more of these initiatives will follow.
Your president,
Vera Toepoel