Course detail

Welcome to Sociology of time

Description:

The aim of the course it to familiarize students with classical and contemporary perspectives in the sociology of time, to enable students to critically discuss theoretical assumptions, methodological approaches and empirical results within studies of time and temporality and to construct a theoretical framework and methodological approach to a specific research problem in the student’s own ongoing or planned project.

Prerequisites:

This PhD course addresses both PhD students unfamiliar with theories of time and PhD students who aremore experienced with the field. The first group will obtain knowledge about the key concepts, theoretical traditions and methodological discussions in the field. The second group will obtain new perspectives ontheir own work through the attentiveness to theoretical development, methodological concerns and discus-sions of how to apply theories and concepts in specific analyses

Learning outcomes:

Programme outline:
Day 1: 12.00-17.00: welcome and lunch, lectures (2 * 2*45min), dinner
Lectures of the day:
- Concepts of time – What is time
- Theoretical perspectives on past, present, future

Day 2: 9.00-15.00: Paper-workshops (1,5 hour + breaks), lectures (2 * 2*45 min)
Lectures of the day:
- Temporal agency and synchronicity
- Time in organizations

Day 3: 9.00-15.00: Paper-workshops (1,5 hour + breaks), lectures (2 * 2*45 min), course evaluation
Lecture of the day:
- Methodological approaches to temporality
- Guet lecture Michael Flaherty time work
In total 6 lectures (12*45 min) with app. 125 pages of literature for each lecture

Assignments:

When signing up for the course, participants should submit ½ page about their own research and the role of
time in it. These short papers will be used to select participants, if more than 15 sign up

Description of paper requirements:

Learning outcomes will be examined through an individually written working paper. The paper will be pre-
sented and discussed in a paper seminar. The paper must be submitted 10 days in advance of the course.
For their paper, students are required to engage with and refer to some mandatory parts of the literature
and to a relevant amount of extra literature of their own choice pertinent to their paper topics. Students
choose their own topic, preferably in line with their topic of doctoral research. Papers must elaborate on the
role of time in the student’s ongoing research. The paper must be no more than 4.000 words excluding ab-
stract and references

Organizer: Merete Monrad

Lecturers: 

Anne-Kirstine Mølholt, seniorforsker VIVE, ekstern lektor AAU
Helle Bendix Kleif, postdoc AAU
Tea Torbenfeldt Bengtsson, professor AAU og professor MSO VIVE
Michael G. Flaherty, professor of sociology, Eckerd College, Florida (guest lecture)
Merete Monrad, lektor AAU

Time: 18th-20th of March 2026 (start noon on the 18th end 3 pm 20th)

Place: AAU Copenhagen, Frederikskaj 10B, 1. sal studio 3

City: Copenhagen

Number of seats: 15

Deadline: 18 February 2026

Important information concerning PhD courses:

There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course.

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.