FinGeo Spring School

30 May – 2 June 2018

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

The First FINGEO Spring School aimed to immerse Early Career scholars to effectively understand and analyse the inherently socio-spatially uneven nature of financialization in Europe. The FINGEO Spring School offers an Early Career program aimed at advanced methodological training and reflexive peer debate that intends to aid the consolidation of an emerging global community of financial geographers. Therefore, the FINGEO Spring School offers an intense engagement with the particular research themes, theoretical perspectives, and methodologies that those studying the intricate relations between finance and space may encounter.

Methods Master Classes

The Spring School consisted in a 4-day program in and around Brussels. The Keynote Lectures from the Global Seminar served as the backbone for the Spring School. We offered Master Classes around a specific set of methodologies to “do financial geography”, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data sources.

Debating the Literature Sessions

The keynote lectures and master classes offer different perspectives on financial geography that warrant further reading and debate in a Debating the Literature Session, which was prepared by delegates based on a collectively selected set of readings.

Peer Review Roundtables

The Spring School also offered delegates Peer Review Roundtables to present and discuss their own research. We sought to challenge them to make empirical, conceptual, and theoretical linkages to the material offered throughout the program.

Career Development/Mentoring Session

The Spring School offers a platform for delegates to engage with senior scholars and seek mentoring as it comes to publication strategies, searching for funding opportunities, establish research collaborations, working across disciplinary boundaries, etc.

Social Events, Visits and Fieldtrips

To fuel the debate, activities outside campus were very important in the quest to discover how finance plays out in Brussels. We engaged with NGO Corporate Europe Observatory, who offered a Lobby Tour through the Brussels Bubble. Next to that, social events served to bring together delegates at various social events on campus and in the city.

Please find the full agenda of the 2018 FinGeo Spring School here.

Testimonials

“The FINGEO spring school packed in lots over an intensive and motivational four days, including a peer-review session with valuable feedback, and methods masters classes with established academics. It was a great opportunity to meet other early-career researchers working on similar topics.” 

Gary Robinson, PhD Researcher, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)

“It is really a nice experience to participate in the Fingeo workshop! The workshop followed by a two-day Global Seminar, I met early career scholars and other PhD candidate to discuss our research related with Financial geography. The lectures of speakers, interactive activities, the field trip broaden my understanding of financial geography, and inspire me work further on the financialization in urban development.”

Haiyan Lu, PhD Researcher, TU Delft

2018 FinGeo Spring School Participants