Category Archives: Graduate study

Summer School program in Translation for PhD students

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is delighted to announce a new edition of the Ph.D. Summer School in Translation, Intercultural and East Asian Studies.

The Ph.D. Summer School is organized by the Department of Translation, Interpreting and East Asian Studies, and it will be held at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (UAB) during the week of June 17th to 21st, 2019.

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Call for applications: Ph.D. Student and Young Scholar Workshop

Fifth Biannual Ph.D. Student and Young Scholar Workshop

“Authorship and Authority in the Ancient World”

International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures

Renmin University of China

Beijing, June 17–21, 2019

The International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures (ICSATC), hosted at Renmin University of China, holds its fifth Ph.D. Student and Young Scholar workshop on June 17-21, 2019. Four renowned scholars from the fields of Ancient Chinese, Greek, and Biblical Literature will present lectures and seminars on specific topics. There also will be student research activities to complement the lectures and seminars. The principal language of instruction and interaction will be English.

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Summer Fellowships at Ricci Institute Available

CALL FOR 2019 SUMMER DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS

The Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco (USF)

The USF Ricci Institute is a premier global resource for the study of Chinese-Western cultural exchange with a core focus on the social and cultural history of Christianity in China. Besides its more than 80,000 volumes of books in Chinese and Western languages, its library also includes (1) a digital copy of the Japonica-Sinica Manuscript Collection from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus (ARSI); (2) the Francis A. Rouleau Microfilm / Digital Archival Collections’ (3) the Canton Diocese Archival Collection; (4) a digital copy of the Passionist China Collection; (5) the Anthony E. Clark Collection; (6) Pre-Modern Japanese & Korean Christian Materials; and (7) other archival materials.

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Workshop on Manuscript Cultures

Fourth Biannual Ph.D. Student and Early-Career Scholar Workshop

Manuscript Culture in Ancient Egypt and China

International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures

Renmin University of China

Beijing, January 14–18, 2019

The International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures (ICSATC), hosted at Renmin University of China, will hold its Fourth Ph.D. Student and Early-Career Scholar Workshop on January 14 -18, 2019. Four days of seminars will be concluded with student presentations and plenary discussion on the fifth day. The principal language of instruction and interaction will be English.

Ph.D. students, see application details below.

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2 PhD Positions on New Confucianism

2 PhD Positions on New Confucianism

The Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel invites applications for two PhD positions starting on February 1, 2019. They are part of the research project “The Exterior of Philosophy: On the Practice of New Confucianism” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). The candidates will complement the research team of Prof. Dr. Ralph Weber and Philippe Major, Ph.D. The research project studies New Confucian philosophy by deploying a sociological perspective for philosophical aims. Existing scholarship has often chosen an approach that is either historical, as in the genre of intellectual history, or philosophical, tuned towards showing the contemporary philosophical relevance of New Confucianism. The current project builds on recent studies that add to these established approaches by offering sociological perspectives on New Confucianism. The project hence breaks new ground in terms of its disciplinary approach beyond the specific context of New Confucianism. Drawing on work done in sociology, the research project explores the possibilities of a sociology of philosophy approached as a philosophical sub-discipline. For more information, see here.

Call for Applications: Intensive Program in Buddhism

Call for Applications: An International and Intensive Program on Buddhism at Cambridge

August 20-September 10, 2018; Cambridge, United Kingdom

The Glorisun Global Network of Buddhist Studies at UBC, with the assistance from its partner at Cambridge and the Research Center for Buddhist Texts and Arts at Peking University, cordially invites applications for an intensive program on Buddhist Studies. Lasting for three weeks from August 20 to September 10, 2018, this program is composed of two segments: Segment 1 from August 20 to August 29 and Segment 2 from September 1 to September 10, which are connected by an intersegmental conference (detailed below).

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2017-18 PGR / Chinese Philosophy Rankings

The 2017-18 Philosophical Gourmet Report (PGR) has been released here. It includes “specialty rankings” for various areas, including Chinese philosophy. This year, for the first time, I was invited to be among the evaluators, and after wrestling with this a bit, decided to give it a try. As explained at the top of this page, evaluators see lists of faculty and then choose one of the following categories:

  • 0 – Inadequate for a PhD program
  • 1 – Marginal
  • 2 – Adequate
  • 3 – Good
  • 4 – Strong
  • 5 – Distinguished

Evaluators can do this for the program overall, and then for the various specialties. I chose to only rank the Chinese philosophy specialty (I did not select overall rankings). The vast majority I assigned a score of 0. I believe that the highest score I gave was a 3. Programs that have one or even two specialists can be — other things being equal — good places to study. But in my judgment there are no English-language programs that merit “strong” or “distinguished” rankings. In my view, that would take multiple specialists, and others with cognate interests, in the context of an overall strong and supportive department. We may get there one day, but we’re not there yet.

I have mixed views about this whole rankings thing, which has been discussed before on the blog. What we have tried to do here at Warp, Weft, and Way is provide as much objective information about graduate study as possible. But since PGR exists and I was invited to take part, I decided to give it a try.

One other thing. As Bryan Van Norden (another evaluator, and also someone on the Advisory Board) explains here, PGR policy is that programs need to have a certain minimum overall score in order to be ranked. Programs with significant “specialty” strengths but without the minimum overall score end up being listed as “Additional programs not evaluated this year but recommended for consideration by the Advisory Board.” I agree with Bryan’s sentiment that the programs listed under this rubric are as strong as the ones officially ranked, and thus disapprove of this policy, which I find to be highly misleading.