The project provides advanced training for graduate students and young researchers in a Euro Summer School which will take place in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Summer School is organised on behalf of the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR) and will take place each year at one of its member institutes.The Summer School's specific focus is on integrating sociological theory and empirical research as well as strengthening comparative research in Europe. It aims at developing students' understanding of how to construct theories so that they have explanatory potential in relation to established research findings and how to design research in order to provide a basis for the empirical testing and critique of theory. Substantive topics are drawn from the international comparative research agenda, covering central issues of the integration of European societies and the development of the nations within that process. The Summer School contributes to the formation of a well-trained community of young researchers in Europe, providing them with the increasingly needed comparative knowledge about converging or diverging developments in European societies.
