UNRISD invites contributions from postgraduate students (Master’s degree and higher) to its Young Scholars Think Piece Series. The Series aims to provide promising young researchers with an opportunity to present their research on social development on a wider platform than is possible within a university setting, thereby contributing to the diversity of ideas within the development community. Preference is given to original pieces offering alternative perspectives, highlighting marginalized viewpoints and bringing neglected issues to the fore. Think pieces can be based on previously written essays, dissertations or theses. The think pieces are published on the UNRISD website and promoted through its social media networks. Successful participants will also receive a certificate, in pdf, to print out or use electronically.

Why participate?

There are good reasons for Young Scholars to send in a contribution to the Think Piece Series:

• Get feedback from UNRISD social development experts from a informed, critical point of view.
• Get published on the UNRISD website, which has over 40,000 subscribers.
• Get connected with the UNRISD network of academics, policy makers and civil society activists.
• Get recognized as a contributing scholar to United Nations research on social development.

Photo: Kent Yoshimura via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) 

First Edition: Extractive Industries

Calls for contributions to the Young Scholars Think Piece Series take place in thematically organized, time-bound editions. This current first edition has a submission period from February to 21 March 2014 and is based on the theme of Extractive Industries and Social Development.

To enable young scholars to feed into debates in this field, UNRISD invites think pieces that speak to issues relevant to social development in mineral-rich contexts and/or related to extractive industries such as:

• Human rights
• Environment
• Business/Corporate Social Responsibility
• Migration
• Gender
• Children
• Social Policy
• Social Development
• Communities/Local Development
• Indigenous Peoples

For background on related UNRISD work, please visit the following research project pages:

• Politics of Domestic Resource Mobilization for Social Development (www.unrisd.org/pdrm)
• Mobilizing Revenues from Extractive Industries: Protecting and Promoting Children’ Rights and Well-Being in Resource-Rich Countries (www.unrisd.org/eiandchildren)
• Mineral-Rents and the Financing of Social Policy (www.unrisd.org/publications/mineral-rents).