This May, the Center for Environmental Politics, directed by Walker Family Professor for the Arts and Sciences Aseem Prakash, will once again hold its 8th annual three-day Duck Family Graduate Workshop for doctoral students working in the area of environmental politics and governance (EPG). The multi-disciplinary nature of EPG research often makes it hard to share ideas, concepts, and research methods across relevant disciplines. This workshop - made possible through the generous support of Gary Duck, an alumnus of our Ph.D. program, was started in 2015 to provide a multi-disciplinary venue where doctoral students can present their research, receive feedback, and network with other EPG scholars from across the U.S.
More than 150 Ph.D. students have participated in these workshops over the past seven years. In addition to leading universities in the US, they have come from Canada, UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Israel, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Australia.
Participants recognize the important contribution this workshop has made to their careers and intellectual pursuits. Michele Lee (PhD. Indiana, and now a post-doctoral fellow in Singapore National University) wrote: “Frankly, when I started my PhD program, I had no idea what I was in for; I knew where my intellectual curiosities lie, but frequently struggled with finding the right mentorship, confidence and direction. The following sentence may seem bombastic, but Aseem put together an incredible workshop that helped to right my ship, and gave me encouragement needed to continue sailing towards my degree and future career. During our farewell dinner, I told Aseem that this whole experience has been transcendental, and I meant it.”
Another participant, Daniel Bertman (PhD candidate,. European University Institute) wrote, “I had the fortune of participating in last year's Duck Family Graduate Workshop on Environmental Politics and Government, where I received some terrific feedback on my draft paper. I have since passed my MPhil thesis defence without corrections, and as of recently, the paper I gave at the Workshop is now available for forthcoming publication in Global Environmental Politics.”
The UW’s own students also benefit from the feedback and networking opportunities afforded by the Duck Family Graduate Workshop. One recent example is Elizabeth Chrun (UW Ph.D. 2019), who is now an assistant professor at Université du Québec à Montréal.