8 Gennaio 2024

The next Board meetings with PhD candidates will take place in Turin (December 2023), Naples (January 2024), Milan (February 2024), Rome (March 2024). In this first operational phase since its inauguration, the Board has consulted repeatedly to define the strategic lines to be prioritised. Among all the issues that have emerged, one seemed to us to be of fundamental importance: to focus on early-career researchers, supporting them in their academic progression and involving them in the projects and activities of our Association thereby encouraging them to increasingly play a role in it. Among the initiatives we intend to promote is the establishment of routine meetings where doctoral students can discuss their projects with their peers and with senior scholars – first and foremost the members of the Executive Board, but in fact, ideally, any AIA member willing to participate. Our idea is to propose a series of meetings in which PhD students and their mentors can meet to share and discuss research topics primarily, but also broader disciplinary issues and career prospects. We propose to organise meetings at a local level (in a broad sense: we envisage a North, Centre and South subdivision) to encourage participation and at the same time reduce the economic burden. As regards the topics to be addressed and the ways in which the initiative should be articulated, we would first of all like to hear the opinions of members, and in particular of PhD students and tutors. To this end, we ask you to fill in this questionnaire https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXN9Tfy2J0NpUbc1kLjC60FG_Fz2QMGkVpydBE0l8aQox6kg/viewform The questionnaire is addressed to all AIA members, with the request that it also be circulated to fellow Anglicists who, although not yet members, have an interest in the topic.