ISSS Future Lab: PhD Student Workshop
Leipzig, Germany, March 23rd, 2009

as part of
The First International Symposium on Services Science (ISSS 2009) ,
Leipzig, Germany, 23rd - 25th March 2009

The goals of the event are to bring together academics and doctoral students to share their knowledge, co-develop ideas and perspectives of interest to the Services Science and discuss about doing research concerning services. A group of distinguished local and international professors and experts will be coaching the students providing valuable insights on how to proceed with their dissertations and what to consider when publishing academic papers about dissertation research. Professors will share their experiences on how to tackle common and practical problems along the journey and how to design a thesis that can be completed effectively. Active group discussion with peer PhD-students gives additional feedback and possibilities to network with those working with similar research topics.

Who can particpate?

The event is intended for PhD students and PhDs interested in Services Science. A number of doctoral students have been selected to present and discuss their work.

If you are a visitor of the International Symposium on Services Science (ISSS 2009) and would like to participate in the workshop (as observer or discussion partner), you are also invited to join. In that case, we would like you to send a short message to Kyrill Meyer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

How to participate?

To apply to participate, a 2-3 page (up to 1500 words) extended abstract describing the PhD candidate's research design should be submitted using the word/latex-templates provided. Please send your abstract to Kyrill Meyer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) no later than December 31st, 2008.
To guarantee a high quality of feedback, the extended abstract will be reviewed in advance by the professors and other PhD candidates participating in the event. The extended abstract/short paper should address the following issues (but not necessarily in this order):

motivation, background and/or topicality of the research
topic, research question, research assignment, and/or hypotheses
the body of literature to which the study links and contributes to
possible research perspectives and/or main aspects of the theoretical framework
key methodological choices; data, analysis strategies, etc.
expected or preliminary findings, ideas of how to report them, and evaluation of the expected contributions of the dissertation

PhD candidates selected to present their work in the seminar will be notified by January 15th, 2009. The workshop language will be English.

Current Status: All candidates have been notified.

What will be the schedule?

The program of the Future Lab PhD Student Workshop will consist of presentation sessions and discussions. Students will present their work and be able to discuss it with professors and other students. Furthermore, valuable practical information and experiences (such as how to organize yourself, how to write, etc.) will be shared. The exact schedule can be seen if you select "Schedule" from the Menu on the left.

What are the costs?

Participants will be required to register to the ISSS 2009 and cover their own travel and accomodation expenses (discount rates at different hotels are available). With the registration they will also be able to attend the First International Symposium on Services Science (ISSS 2009). Workshop participation only will be 75 € (students 20 €) and will not include the ISSS evening dinner.