Summer Doctoral Institute
2025 GW-CIBER Summer Doctoral Institute on Tackling Grand Challenges
June 2-6, 2025 | Washington, D.C.
The GW-CIBER Summer Doctoral Institute is a five-day program designed to provide students with an introduction to management research on grand challenges. Grand challenges can be seen as an umbrella term encompassing a host of topics, including corporate sustainability and the sustainable development goals (SDGs); climate change and transitions to renewable energy; environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG); migration and human rights; gender equality and access to financial services; affordable healthcare and poverty alleviation; preserving biodiversity; protecting against financial crises; and many others. This institute will explore the role of management, organizations, and institutions in supporting and thwarting progress towards goals such as these. We will examine these topics both theoretically and practically.
The objective of this program is to introduce doctoral students to the topic of grand challenges with an eye to engaging this work as a theoretical foundation, conceptual framing, or empirical setting for their own research. The program is open to interdisciplinary perspectives both from within business disciplines (e.g., accounting, finance, management, etc.) and allied fields such as economics or sociology. Students should be comfortable engaging in critical and appreciative discussions of academic articles and books including issues such as theoretical positioning, research design, qualitative and quantitative methods, and overall contributions.
A small cohort of 8-12 students
Located in Washington, D.C., where business and policy intersect
Top instructors in international business, management and other fields
Competitive admission
Instructors
Joel Gehman
The Lindner-Gambal Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy at the GW School of Business
Vontrese Pamphile
Assistant Professor of Strategic Management & Public Policy at the GW School of Business
Dror Etzion
Professor and Steven Grossman Endowed Chair in Sustainable Business at the University of Vermont
Faculty Mentors
In addition to the core faculty, a number of other faculty will be on hand to provide students with feedback on their own research projects.
Program Schedule
Each day will include a series of sessions in the style of a PhD seminar, with assigned readings as well as student research presentations and feedback. The general format will be two or three seminar blocks and one block for student project presentations each day. Site visits and social/cultural outings will also be included on some of the days. A complete schedule of each day's activities will be posted soon.
Program Details
- Eligibility
- All applicants must be enrolled in a doctoral program in the U.S. or abroad.
- Preference will be given to applicants who have passed their comprehensive/qualifying exams.
- International students are responsible for securing and paying for their visas.
- Application
- Complete the program application form
- As part of the application, please submit (1) your current CV, (2) a short statement of research interests (300 words max), and (3) a letter of recommendation from your advisor.
- The application deadline is Sunday, March 23, 2025
- Program Fee
The cost of the 2025 Summer Doctoral Institute is $2,250 and includes all program activities, lodging, social/cultural activities, and some meals. Participants will be responsible for the cost of their roundtrip transportation to/from Washington, D.C., any visa-related fees, health/travel insurance, local transportation, remaining meals, and other incidentals.
Students pursuing doctoral degrees in US institutions or US citizens pursuing doctoral degrees abroad are eligible for a $1,000 discount (bringing the total cost to $1,250). This fee reduction is made possible by funding received by the Center for International Business Education and Research (GW-CIBER).
- Venue & Lodging
The program sessions will be hosted at the GW School of Business at 2201 G Street, NW — just steps from the World Bank, the IMF and the White House, among other notable landmarks. The participants will be housed either in a conveniently located hotel (double occupancy) or in a short-term-stay GW dormitory building. Further information will be provided as soon as lodging details are finalized.
Past Programs
Summer Doctoral Institute for Research & Study on Institutions and Development (2008-2020)
Each summer, up to ten doctoral students were selected to participate in the prestigious GW-CIBER Summer Doctoral Institute (SDI) for research and study on the themes of institutions, development, globalization, and U.S. competitiveness. The students spent two months in the summer conducting research in the nation’s capital, participating in seminars and workshops, and forming a community of scholars with intersecting interests. This cross-disciplinary program facilitated research related to the above themes from the perspective of a broad range of social sciences, but relevant to the discipline of international business. The heart of the Summer Doctoral Institute program was the mentoring relationship between the doctoral scholars and GW faculty members. By agreeing to participate in the SDI, faculty mentors committed themselves to being on campus during the two summer months when the students were at GW, and to be available for face-to-face interaction. Through the student-mentor partnership, the SDI participants had the opportunity to become co-authors on articles targeted for submission to high-quality, peer-reviewed outlets.
View past program alumni and their projects