The Doctoral Students SIG has been one of the most active groups within ECSB for many years. Its primary activity is the Doctoral Consortium which takes place each year at the RENT Conference. The Consortium is organized with a morning and an afternoon session.

Participants in the Doctoral Consortium are the finalists in the ECSB Doctoral Competition for a place on USASBE’s doctoral consortium which takes place each January. The award is worth $1,000 and is based on the best doctoral thesis proposal submitted to the RENT doctoral consortium. The Doctoral Students SIG has also active LinkedIn page activities and organises a range of supports throughout the year.

The leader of the DS SIG is Associate Professor Helle Neergaard (henasb.dk) from Denmark.


Eva Kasperova won the ECSB award for best doctoral paper at the RENT conference in November 2011. Below you can read her reflections:

"Doctoral students may agree that turning ideas into a researchable question is the hardest part of your studies. You have an idea, but how do you know if it matters, or is any 'good'? Winning the ‘ECSB Best Doctoral Student Award’ has been a real motivation. Besides being able to present my work, I met some of the most distinguished academics in the field in Europe. I was also given the opportunity to meet scholars and students from across the Atlantic at the USASBE conference in New Orleans. Taking part in the Doctoral Consortium was a good learning experience and a chance to receive feedback on my research proposal. There was a great mixture of academics, practitioners, entrepreneurs and academic entrepreneurs who were always ready to share their stories. One of the most valuable sessions I attended was a round-table, run by Gregory Ulferts from the University of Detroit Mercy, on businesses owned by people with disabilities and the work of the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) that supports inclusion of disabled people in business. After two days of attending various conference sessions, without seeing a daylight, I went out to sit by the Mississippi River and tasted the chicory-infused coffee and beignets in the French Quarter."