About the Osijek Doctoral Colloquium Consortium
The Osijek Doctoral Colloquium (ODC) is organized by a consortium of different institutions and organisations.
The members are: Osijek Institute for Mission Studies of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS), Universitatea Aurel Vlaicu of Arad (RO), Almaty Bible Institute (Kazakhstan), University Divitia Gratiae, Chisinau (MD), Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, Kiev (UA), Langham Trust and St. Petersburg Christian University (RU) and financial support granting foundations.
The Osijek Doctoral Colloquium
This program seeks to facilitate a guided study period of 2-5 weeks in the summer months, from late June to the end of July and in the winter, two weeks in January-February, to students that have started a PhD program. Also, those seriously exploring the possibility to enrol in a PhD program, working on their proposal are welcome.
Responding to growing demand, the ODC program expanded in 2021 to a year-round ODC mentoring program, with online meetings of small regional and/or interest-based cohorts as well as monthly webinars and one-on-one consultations with experts in their field of interest.
ODC seeks to take 5-15 PhD students out of their busy environments and bring them into a learning community, under the guidance of qualified mentors.
The outcome of this program hoped for is to provide theological institutions with qualified faculty, but also to develop relevant, contextualized literature, and to have capable people from Central and Eastern Europe participate in broader academic conversations, including those with orthodox and Muslim leaders. The Osijek Doctoral Colloquium offers seminars on research methodology on demand.
For those participants meeting all the ECTS credit requirements, a certificate will be given.
Goals of the Doctoral Colloquium:
- To develop and sustain a network of scholars conducting high quality and relevant research in the areas of theological disciplines within a missiological dimension.
- To support missiological researchers by addressing issues relevant to the church and society in Central and Eastern Europe nowadays.
- To give participants a forum to discuss and obtain feedback on their research with leading specialists, scholars and peers in an international, interdenominational and intercultural setting.
- To make available to participants a 130.000 book library with a focus on missiological works in Central and Eastern Europe.
- To allow access to the CEEAMS digital repository CEEAMSPrints.
Participant requirements for the intensive ODC weeks:
- Active participation in seminars /7 hrs per week
- Research presentations, incl. preparation /3 hrs per week
- Individual consultations with mentors /5 hrs per week
- Guided research in the library 7 hrs per day /35 hrs per week
- Keeping a research journal and preparation of final report /1 hr/day
Total per week: 55 hrs – 2 ECTS credits
Note
ODC is not an alternative to a doctoral program at an accredited university. While ODC participants are assigned mentors, these mentors should not be confused with students’ official supervisors assigned by their universities.
Towards a Hybrid ODC
A satellite location is a place where at least one of the mentors can be physically present to interact with students, with facilities like meeting space, library and accommodation. For this winter ODC a satellite location is envisioned in Almaty, (Kazakhstan). We are working on other locations.
Doctoral students located close to these locations will join others in the virtual meetings, but also have local face to face meetings.
Osijek continues to be the main location due to the unique library resources of the Evangelical Theological Seminary and the Osijek Institute for Mission Studies.
The Osijek Institute for Mission Studies
Osijek Institute for Mission Studies (OSIMS) of the Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) seeks to serve as a bridge between East and West, between reflection on the situation of Church and Mission in what was called till recently Eastern Europe and Western Europe.
OSIMS is as an international learning community which seeks to facilitate the academic reflection on the missionary practice of Church and mission and of mission related issues in the societies of post-communist Europe by way of a thorough study of the biblical foundations and a critical analysis of the history of the mission of the Church, and of the contemporary context. The final aim is to support, strengthen and equip the local Church to grow into open, welcoming, witnessing communities of Jesus Christ in today’s world.
The scope of the Institute is contextual, taking its own Evangelical heritage seriously, encouraging a critical reflection on its mission history and contemporary experience in the light of worldwide mission experience and missiological reflection. It also seeks to fulfil a window opening function to church and academia, in ever widening concentric circles, being ready to share lessons learned in its own context, and being ready and open to learning from those from different ethnic or Church backgrounds.
The Geographical Location
The geographical location of Osijek in the triangle of Croatia, Romania and Hungary, near the confluence of the Drava and the Danube, could serve bridging the gap between Church and the (increasingly secularized) world, in communicating the Gospel, in essence the Good News that in Jesus Christ the gap between God and men is bridged. The Institute seeks to build on, renew and strengthen the vision of ETS as a Learning Center for Mission in Eastern Europe.
Lena and George Hendrickson Library
The ODC will take place in the Learning and Conference Center of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek. It houses the Lena and George Hendrickson Library on the ground floor, and a reference room on the next floor. It also features administrative offices and educational space. At the second floor, space is provided for classrooms, professors’ offices and other educational facilities.
With a library of more than 130,000 books, most of which are in English, but many also in the regional languages, and with excellent facilities, we have been working to make our resources available as a regional research library and learning centre for trainers and educators of Christian leaders in all the countries in the region. It is a resource centre for theological and mission studies unique in Central and Eastern Europe.
Practical Information for the Residential ODC
- Each doctoral participant is expected to spend 6-8 hours per day in the study of their selected topic. In addition to your directed study with a mentor, there will be daily group meetings each morning. You should be prepared to present a 30-minute personal testimony and outline of your ministry at home. These brief presentations will encourage us to pray for each other.
- We plan to have different events together too, such as an opening and/or closing dinner which may be a wonderful opportunity for you to present music, dance, poetry, or stories from your home culture as part of the entertainment.
PLEASE FIND HERE THE APPLICATION DETAILS AND THE FORM FOR OUR SUMMER 2023 PROGRAM: