Theory & Methods Workshop

Theory and Methods Workshop

Researching Gender-Based Vulnerabilities: 

Narratives of precarities and resistance from the field

Call for papers: The Justice and Society Research Centre at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology with collaborations from the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge is inviting applications for a theory and methods postgraduate workshop on July 13, 2026. The call for abstracts is now open.

Theme: The theme for the workshop is Researching Gender-Based Vulnerabilities: Narratives of precarities and resistance from the field. This workshop will engage with gender-based vulnerabilities, inviting critical relational examinations of how they are produced, sustained, and legitimised within both historical and contemporary matrices, including colonialism, racial capitalism, communalism, legal regimes, and so on. We welcome contributions that explore grounded analyses of gender-based vulnerabilities and resistance through qualitative fieldwork in different jurisdictions and parts of the world. 

The workshop will be based on reflections from the field, in the form of working papers or field notes, that selected participants will be asked to share subsequently, based on their qualitative fieldwork. Their papers will be reviewed and discussed by peers and senior scholars, with particular emphasis on methods of analysis and theoretical framework.

What does the workshop provide: This workshop is designed to support doctoral scholars with the analysis and writing based on the excerpts they present and share from their fieldwork notes and reflections. It will provide a dedicated space to work through the analytical and conceptual challenges that emerge when translating field experiences and data into coherent theoretical frameworks. In doing so, it will encourage scholars to reflect critically on how their fieldsites, positionalities, and research encounters shape both the questions they ask and the analytical tools they employ. The programme will also feature a dedicated masterclass on theory and methods. 

Who is eligible to apply: 

1. PhD students in post-fieldwork stage in their PhD would benefit the most from the workshop. But all MPhil and PhD students who are undertaking qualitative fieldwork-based research are eligible to apply. 
2. Experiential accounts of gender-based violence in the context of genocide will be given preference.  

Submissions could be on subjects relating to (but not limited to):

1. All forms of gender based vulnerabilities, including gender-based discrimination, violence, and crime at and across any site or jurisdiction (for example: within intimate relationship, home or family, containment or conflict regions, university campuses, workplace etc.)
2. Relational and intersectional methodologies on researching gender-based violence and resistance against it
3. New forms of gendered precarities affected by authoritarian and/or neoliberal contexts in today’s times.
4. Socio-cultural meanings around gender and sexuality, including the norms of masculinities and femininities, and their relationship with crime and violence.
5. Work highlighting co-production of different axes of vulnerabilities including on race, caste, class, religion and ethnicity lines.
6. Meanings of precarity and resistance for the researcher’s experience in the field. 
7. Ethical and methodological reflections on challenges in crime and violence research. 

Important Steps before the workshop:

1. Submit an abstract of 250-300 words by May 25, 2026. The submission link is here. 
2. If selected, submit a working paper of 3000-4000 words by June 25, 2026.
3. Read peers’ papers before the workshop.

Important dates:

1. Deadline for abstract submission- May 25, 2026.
2. Notification of outcome-  May 28, 2026.
3. Deadline for full paper submission-  June 25,  2026.
4. Workshop-  July 13, 2026.

For any queries, reach out to Monika at mm2737@cam.ac.uk and Yağmur Çağatay at ymc36@cam.ac.uk 

Theory and Methods Workshop Schedule