Practical Information

Conference Venue

The LRN Conference is taking place at Faculty of Law, Calonia Building, in the address Caloniankuja 3, Turku.  Calonia is on the University of Turku campus area, located close to the River Aura and Turku Cathedral.

Calonia, the Faculty of Law is 10 minutes walk (800 meters) from Turku Cathedral. Choose the river side, street Piispankatu, walk to the park Tuomaanpuisto, turn right and continue until you arrive to the lower campus area and Calonia. Please See the map

Important dates:

  • Registration: deadline 31 August 2023 (closed)
  • Paper submission: deadline 24 August 2023 (by guidelines in acceptance letter or by email to kirsi.tuohela[at]utu.fi) (closed)

Paper sessions, Guidelines

Legal Reseach Network Conference 2023
Updated guidelines for paper sessions

 

The format

The LRN Conference 2023 paper sessions follow a writing workshop format.

All particants should read all papers to be represented in the group they are attending. The participants should engage with the papers constructively to help the author to improve the paper.

The paper sessions will have the following structure:

Author presentation (max. 5 minutes)

The author should introduce the participants to the paper by

  • situating the paper in the general framework of the author’s dissertation project or research agenda, and
  • identifying the aspects of the paper the author would wish the participants focus on.

The author may use ONE SLIDE as a visual aid in their presentation.

Discussant presentation (max. 10–15 minutes)

The discussant initiates the paper session work by giving a presentation of the paper.

In the presentation, the discussant should

  1. identify the discussion(s) the paper engages with,
  2. identify the method(s) the author uses,
  3. identify the main thesis or intervention of the paper, and
  4. identify the contribution(s) the paper makes to the discussion(s)

The discussant may use FOUR SLIDES as visual aids in their presentation.

General discussion (20–30 minutes)

After the discussant’s presentation, the participants will discuss the paper. All participants should actively engage in the general discussion. We expect that all participants offer helpful constructive feedback to the author during the discussion.

What is helpful constructive feedback? You might, for example:

  • suggest how the author might clarify or sharpen the thesis or intervention of the paper and
  • offer a reorganizing suggestion it to make the thesis/intervention clearer,
  • offer objections that are likely to be raised to the paper and suggest responses,
  • propose the consideration of related literature that might offer further theoretical or methodological insight or that might be good models for the paper,
  • suggest ways that the author might use to sharpen or strengthen the paper’s methods and its conclusions,
  • offer alternative readings of the paper materials,
  • offer possible complementary methods.

When giving feedback, please bear in mind that it is typically not helpful to, for example, suggest that the author take a totally different theoretical/political approach to the issue they are addressing, an entirely new field or literature that the author needs to know before continuing with her or his project (unless it is directly implicated and clearly overlooked), or a different/more interesting question the author could answer.

How to travel to Turku?

From Europe and UK you can fly to Turku via Stockholm or Riga and arrive at the Turku airport 7 km outside the city. With Wizz Air you can fly from Rome and Gdansk directly to Turku. There are bus and taxi connection from the Turku airport to the city center.
Bus no 1 operates between the airport and harbor via the city center (Market square). The Route Guide / Reittiopas FÖLI

If you fly to Helsinki (170 km from Turku), there are good train and bus connections to Turku. When travelling by train (VR in Finland) please notice that you need to buy a ticket to Kupittaa (Turku), (not the main station Turku). Due to the track works trains between Helsinki and Turku operate from Kupittaa station only. When coming from Helsinki airport to Turku you need to change the train in the (Helsinki) Pasila station. For trains and timetables please see VR timetables

You can also take a bus from the Helsinki airport to Turku. You can use the Matkahuolto route planner   to get suitable timetables. Bus ride to Turku from Helsinki takes a bit over 2 hours.

Please visit also the Visit Turku page on travelling

Accomodation in Turku

There are several hotels in the walking distance from the conference venue, Calonia. If you arrive to Turku via Helsinki the Original Sokos Hotel Kupittaa is an easy choice while it is located by the Kupittaa (Turku) train station.

By the market square there are several hotels within the walking distance to Calonia, like Original Sokos Hotel Wiklund, Hotel Centro and many others. Please see Visit Turku / Overnight in Turku

For the low budget there are options like

  • Omenahotels
  • Hostel Bore, a ship that used to operate between Turku and Stockholm
  • or Airbnb which also is an option in Turku.