PhD Courses in Denmark

Most PhD projects in the field of language and law / law and language are ‘born interdisciplinary’. While most scholars will agree that this is undoubtedly the case, what interdisciplinarity may mean and imply, is not equally clear. Thus, interdisciplinarity has not been a recurrent theme in scholarship in the field, and reflections on what interdisciplinarity means for the research interests and research designs has not been addressed and developed sufficiently among PhD students in the field.

This course intends to fill this gap.
 

Academic Aim:
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand basic concepts and categories of interdisciplinary research in general and in language and law research in particular
• Reflect on the background assumptions inherent in their disciplinary background
• Understand the background assumptions inherent in other scholars’ disciplinary backgrounds
• Adapt presentations of their research projects to audiences with another disciplinary background
• Integrate reflections on interdisciplinarity in their research projects

Target group: 
The course is targeted at PhD students who, irrespective of their disciplinary background, study the role of language in law, study the characteristics of legal language and legal texts, or employ linguistic methods in the study of law. Both PhD students whose projects are interdisciplinary as a key feature of their initial design (‘born interdisciplinary’), and students who move towards interdisicplinarity as a result of an expanded research design (‘becoming interdisciplinary’) are welcome.

Course lecturers:
Anne Lise Kjær, iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
Zuzanna Godzimirska, iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
Jakob Holtermann, iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
Henrik Palmer Olsen, iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
Louise Victoria Johansen, CIS, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
Urska Sadl, MOBILE, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen

Course organiser:
Anne Lise Kjær, iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
 

Programme (subject to changes)

FIRST DAY OF THE COURSE: 28 NOVEMBER 2024

9.00-12.00: Morning session: On interdisciplinarity in language and law / law and language scholarship
9.00 – 9.15: Anne Lise Kjær: Welcome and Introduction to the course
9.15 – 10.00: Anne Lise Kjær: A language scholars’ view on law – or what I thought I knew about law when I first entered a faculty of law.
10.00 – 10:45: Zuzanna Godzimirska: The promise and pitfalls of using linguistic methods as a legal scholar
10.45 – 11.00: Coffee break
11.00 – 11.45: Urska Sadl: How the empirical study of language may / may not help a legal scholar in the study of EU law.
11.45 – 12.00: Questions and discussion

12.00 – 13.30: Lunch break

13.30 – 16.00: Afternoon session
Working groups on Assignment 1: Abstract of the PhD project, focusing especially on the interplay between language and law in the project

16.00: Hand-in of Assignment 2: What is the epistemological interest (Erkenntnisinteresse) of your project – what do you want to achieve, what gap in what scientific field do you intend to fill?

19.00 – 21.30: Dinner

SECOND DAY OF THE COURSE: 29 NOVEMBER 2024

9.00 – 12.00: Morning session: On the challenges of interdisciplinary research
9.00-9.15: Introduction to second day of the course
9.15 – 10.00: Jakob v. H. Holtermann:  What if: The evolution of legal concepts through the lens of language
10.00 – 10.45: Louise Victoria Johansen: Law, language and anthropology: from fieldwork to analysis
10.45 – 11.00: Coffee break
11.00 – 11.45: Henrik Palmer Olsen: On the semantic and legal similarity of legal documents – or what AI tells us about the differences between law and language.
11.45 – 12.00: Discussion and questions

12.00 – 13.30: Lunch break

13.30 – 16.00: Afternoon session
Working groups on Assignment 2: What is the epistemological interest (Erkenntnisinteresse) of your project – what do you want to achieve, what gap in what scientific field do you intend to fill?

16.00 – 17.00: Farewell reception

Written preparation before the course:
One week before the course: 21 November 2024: Hand-in of Assignment 1: Abstract of the PhD project, focusing especially on the interplay between language and law in the project

Written preparation after the course:
One week after the course: 6 December 2024: Hand-in of Assignment 3: Reflection paper on the interdisciplinary research design and / or research interest of your project

Language: English

ECTS: 2

Max. numbers of participants: 24

Registration: Please register via the link no later than 31 October 2024.
 

Further information: For more information about the PhD course, please contact the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk).

Literature:

Main references – more readings will be added later:

Douglas W. Vick: “Interdisciplinarity and the Discipline of Law”, Journal of Law & Society, Vol. 31 (2004), pp. 163-193

Roger Cotterrell: ”Why Must Legal Ideas be Interpreted Sociologically?” Journal of Law & Society Vol. 25 (1998), pp. 171-192.

Lisa R. Lattuca: ‘Creating Interdisciplinarity: Grounded Definitions from College and University Faculty’, History of Intellectual Culture, 2003, Volume 3, No. 1, pp. 1-20.

Julie Thompson Klein, ‘The Taxonomy of Interdisciplinariy’, in Robert Frodeman, Julie Thompson Klein & Carl Mitcham (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity. Oxford University Press (2010), Ch. 2. 30 pages.