Course detail

Welcome to Theorizing and Theory Building

This is a 5 ECTS, generic, interdisciplinary PhD course. It aims to acquaint Doctoral Candidates (DCs; AKA: PhD students) with the process of theorizing and theory building. We start from the premise that it is critical for DCs - regardless of their disciplines, research projects, or progress - to master the craft of theorizing and theory building. By the end of the course DCs will have gained knowledge and skills in: 
(a) gaining sensitivity to theoretical development during the literature review and data collection processes, and 
(b) analyzing and theorizing from extant and empirical data. 

This is the 12th Edition of the TBRP PhD course. The course was jointly launched in 2013 by AAU Business School, Halmstad University and Oulu Business School and hosted by these institutions on a rotating basis. It will be hosted by AAUBS in 2026. 

Every year our course gathers together DCs with diverse, multidisciplinary research interests:

• Decision-support tool for circular and sustainable transition 
• Social sustainability assessment of AI-enhanced solutions in healthcare
• Inclusive pathways to women's entrepreneurship through practice-based interventions 
• Managing and adapting under asymmetry
• Strategic platform grafting in healthcare 
• Digitalized military decision-making in the war-fighting brigade 
• Institutions, organizational competences in developing collaboration
• When the machine joins the team
• Enterprise foundations as an ownership form in family firms 
• Workplace boredom
• Entrepreneurship education in the Arts and Humanities
• Clarifying corporate moral agency
• The effects of AI reviews and fake reviews on consumer trust

Alumni testimonials can be found here.

Delivery methods
The PhD course is delivered using a mixture of lecture-based and interactive teaching methods, including application essay, 2 group assignments and feedback to DCs on their identified issues and challenges and a public lecture offered to non-participants and delivered by course lecturers. 

Description of paper requirements
Before the course, the participants will submit Application Essays setting inter alia their progress and expectations from the course. During the course, the participants will work on 2 assignments in groups, present them and receive feedback. Assignment 1: Theorizing and Building Theories from Literature (extant knowledge) and Assignment 2: Theorizing and Building Theories from Empirical Data. Working on each assignment will require (i) individual preparation in form of reading the assignment material, engaging in theorizing and theory building and (ii) group work on joint theorizing and theory building, presenting the results and receiving feedback. You can find the application further down on this page.

Organizer: Romeo V. Turcan
Lecturers: Romeo V. Turcan, Matthias Zach, Michal Lysek

ECTS: 5

Number of seats: 25

Period: October 26-30, 2026

Deadlines: 
DL1:  - Sep 28, 2026 - Application Essay submission. 
DL2:  - Oct 2, 2026 - Notification of acceptance
DL3:  - Oct 12, 2026 - Registration and payment of the course fee. Early registration is strongly encouraged.

Venue: AAU Business School, Fibigerstraede 11, 9220, Aalborg

Key literature
For assignment 1 there are 3-4 papers per group to be read and used as the basis for assignment 1.
For assignment 2 there is qualitative data set (1 document) to be read and used as the basis for assign-ment 2.
Before each lecture, there are 3-5 readings that are available in Moodle. 

Mandatory literature
All registered participants receive at least two weeks before the start of the course access to the course intranet where they can download course material, incl., lecture slides, reading material, description of the assignments, and other relevant material, incl., administration related.

Participation fee
Participation fee is 150 EUR (the fee applies to ALL applicants). The fee will cover costs related to coffee breaks, and two dinners during the week of the course. Lunches are covered b the AAU PhD school. Each participant is responsible for his/her own travel and accommodation.

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. 

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

You may find more information in our FAQ: https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/local/page/faq. 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.