Writing Retreat 2024

Writig retreat 2024 for Early Stage Scholars and Founders Dates: August 21-25, 2024  Location: tba, between Frankfurt (Oder) and Heilbronnmax. Participants: 16 This five-day writing retreat is designed for early-stage scholars and founders who wish to advance their writing skills and produce high-quality work. The retreat provides a tranquil environment, conducive to creativity and productivity, away from the distractions of daily life. Participants will benefit from structured writing sessions, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring, all tailored to enhance their academic and business writing capabilities.    Objectives Improve writing skills tailored to academic and business needs Develop strategies for maintaining writing productivity Receive personalized feedback on writing projects Network with peers from academia and entrepreneurship   Program Schedule Day 1: Arrival and Orientation 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Arrival and Check-In 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Welcome and Introduction Session 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Goal Setting Workshop 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Free Writing Time 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Dinner 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Networking and Ice-Breaker Activities    Day 2: Writing Techniques and Strategies 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Breakfast 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Workshop on Effective Writing Techniques   11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Guided Writing Session 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Peer Review and Feedback Session 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Free Writing Time 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Dinner 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Evening Reflection and Group Discussion    Day 3: Specialized Writing Focus 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Breakfast 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Academic Writing vs. Business Writing Workshop 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Writing Session (Choose Your Focus) 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: One-on-One Mentoring Sessions 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Free Writing Time 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Dinner 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Guest Speaker Session    Day 4: Advanced Writing Skills 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Breakfast 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Workshop on Persuasive Writing and Storytelling 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Collaborative Writing Exercises 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Intensive Writing Session 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: Free Writing Time 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Dinner 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Open Mic Night (Share Your Work)    Day 5: Wrap-Up and Departure 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM: Breakfast 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Final Writing Session 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Peer Review and Closing Feedback 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Closing Ceremony and Certificate Distribution 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Departure and Farewell    Additional Information Accommodation: Private rooms with scenic views Meals: Healthy and delicious meals provided Materials: Participants should bring their own laptops and any specific materials they need for writing Price: tba    Join us for a transformative experience that will elevate your writing skills and connect you with like-minded individuals. We look forward to welcoming you to our Writing Retreat! Interested? The exact dates and details for the Writing Retreat will be announced soon. If you are available on the specified date and interested in participating, please enter your email address here: Email Send

We want to have an impact

We want to have an impact! As scholars, we want to have an impact on the world. Based on the newly published paper „Practicing Impact and Impacting Practice? Creating Impact through Practice-Based Scholarship“, a curated debate on impact by ERLab affiliates Yanis Hamdali and Lorenzo Skade, together with five senior scholars, they explore the question of what impactful research can be and how scholars influence the manifold and controversial concepts of impact through our practice. In a nutshell, the paper suggests different ways of practicing impact and impacting practice in a dialog between Davide Nicolini, Juliane Reinecke, Paula Jarzabkowski, Eero Vaara, and Charlene Zietsma, together with Yanis Hamdali and Lorenzo Skade. The contributors highlight different foci and diverse ways of impactful scholarly engagement — policymaking, public, teaching, or academic — which all aim to evoke impactful results. These two impact dimensions are thereby distinct yet interrelated, as the contributions show. While practicing impact emphasizes how scholars can be impactful through engaging in different elements of scholarly work, impacting practice accentuates the immediate impact that scholars can have on management practice. Both dimensions are, thus, interrelated and mutually stimulating parts of impactful scholarship. Along both these dimensions, the authors urge scholars to take agency in defining and measuring impact and (re-)regain control in the impact narrative, as the figure below shows. There is still this stereotype of the scholar sitting in his books with no contact to „the real world“ The publication is open-access and available to everyone free of charge. If you would like to dive deeper into the dialog, please find it here:  Read full paper Impact at the ERLab? The ERLab aims to create impact by finding a way to process existing and emerging research results in such a way that they still meet scientific standards, but at the same time can be used as a toolbox for practical application. Teaching and learning formats are created that are refined in feedback loops with the „end users“ and also take into account the current state of the art and entrepreneurial procedures. Our focus is on practice-based scholarship and we therefore assume that theory and practice always go hand in hand. We have introduced measurable elements for the sake of simplicity and for presentation to our funding bodies and are working towards being able to „showcase“ something that also meets the requirements of the funding. We hope that our results will also stimulate reflection in our research location of Heilbronn and, in the best case, contribute to a significant improvement in the ecosystem. Learn more

Applying for Conferences

by Carlos Alberto Prieto Valero SMALL GUIDE ON HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL APPLYING TO ACADEMIC CONFERENCES Attending academic conferences is a great way to present your investigation, network with other scholars, and learn about the latest advances in your field. Recently, I got admitted to participating in the Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop (WOW7) to be held in Indiana, USA, in June 2024 to present one of my current projects, and with the ERLab team, we thought about sharing the usual steps in the application process, tips, and some reasons why one could increase the chances of being elected from the WOW7 experience. 1. First of all, find the right conference: There are several academic conferences all over the world, but not all of them are the right ones for you. Choosing a conference that is highly related to your topic will increase your chances of getting accepted. Since the project I am currently working on has a high component of institutional analysis and governance, WOW7 suits me very well. Taking enough time to look for the right conference should not be underestimated. In the end, each conference application is a long process, and you want to optimize your time and resources to be accepted rather than spend time applying to several conferences with unsuccessful results due to weak preparation and rush.  2. Check the conference requirements: Once you have your key conferences, see what they require. Sometimes, the organizers have some special requirements, costs, conditions, or deadlines, and we want to be sure we have everything in the best possible way. Naturally, your potential article is the basis for any application, but the rest will be a plus for a successful application. 3. Prepare your application Do not underestimate your preparation. It is probably something you can apply to different situations in your life. Returning to point 1, if you have decided on 2 or 3 conferences instead of 8 or 10, you will have more time to prepare yourself, improve your manuscript, look for potential mistakes, send an early application, and not be in a hurry with multiple deadlines at a time. In my case, I have 2 or 3 crucial conferences on the table, and my main focus is to be prepared for those in the best possible way. WOW7 was the first acceptance, and now I am preparing the application for the second application to be done in the next few weeks. 4. Submit your application Double-check your application package, review the requisites again, consider asking a colleague or a good friend to review your documents, and, once you have everything ready, send your documents with the best attitude and trust. 5. Wait for acceptance One of the abilities lacking a lot in current times is the capacity to wait and not be desperate. Optimize your time during the waiting time: Read potential complementary papers, advance in other attractive projects, do fieldwork, etc. The key to waiting is to be active during that time without losing sight of deadlines. 6. Acceptance Decision The day has come. You open your email, and you finally see the much-desired email. You open it. You read it. You get happy and share the news with your supervisor and other colleagues. Celebrate (Please). You made it. And believe me, this is not the end of the story. It is just the beginning of a great and enriching experience in the life of an academic researcher.  Good luck and lots of success!!!

 AI-powered Solutions for Smart Academics!

AI-powered Solutions for Smart Academics! As 2023 draws to a close, the multitude of possibilities encompassed by AI-based research tools has been limitless. Almost daily, you might have found yourself coming across a new tool promising to make research a little easier than it was before. Whether it’s audio paper-readers, proofreading assistants, mind-mapping tools, or citation managers, the innovations brought by these AI-driven research solutions are both astonishing and truly refreshing, to say the least! Addressing some common Academic concerns Here are some most common concerns that our fellow researchers and scientists have had about AI-based research tools: “The multitude of available tools can be daunting…” Tip:  Prioritize finding ones tailored to your needs and stay updated on emerging options. “Love AI-based research tools but hesitant about the cost…” Tip:  Rest assured, free versions are readily available “Wouldn´t trust AI-powered tools for crucial academic research…”  Tip: You might be overlooking the potential of AI-powered research tools “Not really a tech-savvy person…” Tip: It´s not a pre-requisite, these tools are designed for academics irrespective of their tech-based knowledge “Fear of over-dependence on AI-based research tools…”  Tip: Always use AI tools to assist you, but make your own decisions AI-Powered Research Tools: Early Adoptors vs Skeptics? In every industry when a revolutionary product is rolled out, there are early adopters, mainstream users and let´s not forget: skeptics. Academia is certainly no different! When AI-powered research tools started gaining popularity, the early adopters in academia were quick to jump on the bandwagon. For others, this journey was far from smooth sailing and marked the beginning of a transformative journey. What made the situation a lot more complicated was the lack of regulations regarding the use of AI-powered research tools. The question of to what extent should students be allowed to use AI for scientific work has been repeatedly raised and argued, in the past year. A glance at the current academic landscape, now, reveals a noticeable shift. Numerous senior academics, once stringent about prohibiting tools like ChatGPT, have now softened their stance, permitting students to engage with it. The emphasis remains on using AI as a helpful tool rather than relying on it entirely. BUT Which tools would help you the best? This 5-minute would surely help keeping scrolling… Now that we have addressed the most common concerns of researchers, we´ll go a step ahead and share with you some tools our team uses at the ER Lab. This list can help you big time especially if you´re a social science researcher. What is The ERLab? The ERLab or The Entrepreneurship Research Lab is an initiative by European Viadrina University and Campus Founders. We´re a team of 9 researchers who explore themes related to entrepreneurship with a specific focus on communication, creativity, and ecosystems. Learn more Tools our team used for entrepreneurship research? Here are our top picks for AI-powered research tools: 1. Chatpdf – 5€/ Month/ User An excellent tool that allows you to chat with a PDF. Simply upload a paper and start asking questions. Reading a research paper can take hours, and this tool can help you save time. Here’s a helpful tip: If you have an exam tomorrow and not enough time, upload the whole book in PDF format and start asking questions. Once a question has been answered, ask ChatPDF to indicate the page number where the information is cited and double-check the information for accuracy. 2. Consensus – 6.99 € / month Consensus is a great tool that utilizes AI to find evidence-based answers to your research questions. Simply make an account, and ask your research question. Consensus provides evidence-based answers cited from real academic papers. This tool also allows you to save, cite, and share the answers. See the example below: 3. Connected Papers – 71.67 € billed annually ( 5.97 € / month) Connected Papers is one of our favorite tools at the ER Lab. It allows you to explore relevant literature in the form of a visual graph. Connected Papers offers a more efficient approach to discovering papers compared to conventional methods like Google Scholar or other paper databases. Simply insert a keyword, paper title, DOI, or paper URL, and you’ll receive a visual graph displaying connected papers. Here’s a quick example for you: 4. Research Rabbit – a free web-based platform Research Rabbit, often termed “Spotify for Papers” is a one-stop shop for all our literature review needs. It allows you to add papers of your interest and then generates countless relevant paper recommendations. It also provides the option to visualize papers, collaborate, and even share your collections with others. 5. Grammarly – free plugin Grammarly is the plugin of our choice to write, re-write and proofread our papers and documents. The tools supports you in developing your style and tone with suggestions to finish your sentences in a comprehensive and effective way. There is also a premium web-based version, which shows the quality of your text in detail: AI-powered solutions: Paving the path forward In short, AI-based tools indeed make a significant impact. They enhance efficiency, save valuable time, and yield superior results. Moreover, looking ahead, the future of AI-powered research tools seems promising and we should brace ourselves for what´s coming next! If you have any queries or thoughts, get in touch by leaving a comment below