From Sunday, June 17 to Friday, June 29, 2018, the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science is sponsoring a Chicago partner site hosted at Northwestern University. The purpose of the Summer Institute is to bring together graduate students and early career researchers in both social science (broadly conceived) and data science (broadly conceived). Content will include live-streamed lectures from the main site at Duke University as well as guest speakers who will present on cutting-edge computational research and methods. Topics covered include text analysis, digital data collection, experimental design, non-probability sampling, agent based modeling, and ethics.
One of the main goals of SICSS is to bring together scholars from a range of computational and social sciences to share their complementary skillsets and enhance each others work. Participants will get hands-on experience using computational methods to test social theories and will develop group projects to present at the end of the second week. One or more collaborative projects that demonstrate extraordinary promise and interdisciplinarity will receive pilot funding for further development, and all participants will be given support in accessing and utilizing the many data sources freely available for research and analysis.
Participation is restricted to graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and untenured faculty within 7 years of their Ph.D. Due to limited space, up to twenty participants will be invited. Participants with less experience with social science research will be expected to complete additional readings in advance of the Institute, and participants with less experience coding will be expected to complete a set of online learning modules on the R or Python programming language. Students doing this preparatory work will be supported by a teaching assistant who will hold online office hours before the Institute. To facilitate the planning process, you must submit your application materials by April 21st, 2018.
There is no cost to participate in SICSS-Chicago, and we will provide breakfast and lunch for all on-site days (see schedule for details). Participants from any geographic location are encouraged to apply, and those traveling from outside the Chicago area must provide their own travel and lodging.
SICSS-Chicago is generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation, and several generous local sponsors:
