Academic writing is a demanding process, but it doesn’t have to be done in isolation. The Writing Club is built on the idea that we can make writing more manageable—and even enjoyable—by working together. While academic writing often involves complex revision and clear communication, we can navigate these challenges more effectively through collaboration.

This club creates a supportive environment where we can exchange ideas, offer feedback, and share practical strategies to help each other along the way.

Our meetings will focus on fostering a collaborative atmosphere where everyone can contribute and benefit. Each session will begin with setting individual writing goals, followed by focused writing blocks, with short breaks to rest, discuss progress, and share insights. These structured sessions help maintain momentum, but the real value comes from working alongside peers who are facing similar challenges. Whether we’re tackling literature reviews, developing methodologies, or simply trying to stay motivated, the shared experience of writing together will make the process feel less overwhelming and more productive.

This club is not about providing quick fixes but about building a community where we support each other in the writing journey. Through our collective efforts, we can transform writing from a solitary task into a shared, energizing experience that makes progress feel both achievable and enjoyable.

The Gender & Sexuality PhD Club is a monthly interdisciplinary meeting of PhDs who work with gender and/or sexuality, during which we primarily review each other’s work. Members of the club come from all disciplines hosted by the AISSR, namely anthropology, geography, international development studies, sociology, and political science. The topics we study span a wide variety. Examples include the study of gendered protection norms in armed conflict, sexuality in political representation, and women’s underrepresentation in organizational authority. Likewise, among us you will find PhDs employing a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative methods and data, such as participant obser-vation, interviews, critical frame and narrative analysis, and quantitative analysis of sur-vey and register data. In cooperation the Amsterdam Centre for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS) we organize master classes with visiting scholars and short intensive courses.

Interested in joining? Contact us

For PhDs who conduct research in Latin-America and the Caribbean area, please refer to the online OLA PhD Plaftorm.

The Quantitative Research on Social Inequalities (QRSI) PhD Club provides a platform for early-career researchers of diverse disciplines and backgrounds to discuss their work and learn from one another. PhD candidates at any stage of their journey who are interested in topics related to social inequality and/or use quantitative methods are warmly invited to join our community.

Our members work on a wide range of topics, including inequalities in education systems, the labor market, political attitudes and participation, and across neighborhoods or other geographical units. We meet once a month to discuss the research of one of our members. The goal of the club is to learn about each other’s work, practice giving and receiving constructive feedback, and receive peer input on issues and questions in our research.

Do you have questions or want to join the QRSI PhD Club? Get in touch with the coordinator Nathalie Aerts

The UvA Migration Dialogue provides a platform for early career migration researchers of diverse disciplines, backgrounds and research topics.

Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers of UvA at different levels of research and academic career progress are invited to join the community to share knowledge of migration theory and methods and have access to original discussions on conceptual and empirical contributions in migration studies. Advanced master's students with experience conducting migration-related research projects are also welcome to join the circle.

Together, we scrutinise migration-related contemporary political and socio-economic issues and decolonial and postcolonial inequalities and challenges. We aim to provide a platform for researchers of all backgrounds and identities to explore critical topics at the intersections of migration, governance, race, gender, human rights, and more.

We organise monthly sessions. To become a member of the Migration Dialogue group at UvA and to receive the event announcements, write to us at: migrationdialogue@uva.nl

In the department of Anthropology two PhD Cubs are organised by staff members and the participating PhDs together. The pre-fieldwork PhD Club is a place where PhDs share their work in progress and the prefieldwork Club aims to support PhDs personally as well as in writing the 8-th months paper. The process of the writing; topics related to Anthropological theory; or the upcoming fieldwork will be discussed during the meetings. The post- and in-between fieldwork PhD Club supports PhD candidates who are doing fieldwork or are in the phase of the writing of their PhD dissertation. Here topics are discussed that support the work that people are doing, and own work can be shared and discussed. Regularly other staff members join in to guide a meeting on a specific topic of common interest. The two Anthropology Clubs meet on a monthly basis.

Interested in joining?

Get in touch with PhD Mentor Marieke Brand.