European Consortium for Political Research
\nThe Joint Sessions of Workshops have been hosted annually in March or \nApril in an array of different European cities since 1973. They have \nbeen referred to as the 'jewel in the crown' of the ECPR and are \nrecognised as one of the major highlights of the world's political \nscience calendar.
The workshops are designed to be a forum for \nsubstantive discussion on research in progress and collaboration among \nscholars. They are gatherings of approximately 15 to 20 participants \nfrom several different institutions\, lasting for about 5 days. The \ntopics of discussion are precisely defined\, and only those scholars \ncurrently working in the workshop's field are invited to participate.
The\n main objective of the workshops is to facilitate and encourage \nparticipation\, equality and collaboration between younger and newer \nmembers of the profession\, advanced students\, and well-established \nprofessors. In order to achieve this\, the size of each workshop is \nstrictly limited. Each participant is expected to be carrying out \nresearch in the field of the workshop\, so that he or she is both able to\n present a paper or research document for discussion\, and participate in\n the discussion of the other papers presented. Participants may attend \nonly one workshop and should stay for the duration of the Joint \nSessions. It is hoped that some of these workshops will lead to \npublications and the creation of permanent standing groups\, in addition \nto continuing collaboration between members.