Nineteen early-career researchers in Organizational Science and Information Systems joined the 14th edition of the KIN Summer School.
This year's edition was built around a theme that runs through academic life but rarely gets named directly: what it actually takes to build a sustainable research career alongside a life beyond academia. That theme set the tone from the very first moment: rather than opening with a keynote, Marleen Huysman and the invited faculty shared the failures and missteps that marked their own careers, in a confessional, storytelling style that set a candid tone for the days ahead.
Five topic talks followed, spanning a wide range of themes—from the use of GenAI in research, to ethnographic methods, technology hype, algorithmic control, and data in the age of AI. This year's invited faculty included:
- Natalia Levina (New York University, USA)
- Anastasia Sergeeva (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- Neil Pollock (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)
- Magnus Mähring (Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden)
- Marleen Huysman (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Participants presented their own work during paper development sessions in small groups, each led by a faculty member, offering space for in-depth discussion and constructive feedback on sharpening arguments and rethinking assumptions.
The Summer School closed, as it does every year, with a research panel, and this time the conversation leaned fully into the theme. Junior faculty sat down with senior colleagues to discuss the future and use of AI tools in early career trajectories, how to combine an academic career with travel and family planning, and how to navigate co-authorship.
That same thread ran through the time outside the formal programme. Participants explored sunny Amsterdam together: a boat tour through the canals, a joint dinner at Marineterrein, and a guided walking tour through the city on foot.
The KIN Summer School is organized by the KIN Center for Digital Innovation of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam together with the Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI). The information about the 15th edition of the KIN Summer School will follow soon.
