August 4 to August 8, 2024 | Chicago | Northwestern University
Participation is restricted to current Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and untenured faculty within 7 years of their Ph.D. However, there are no restrictions based on citizenship, country of study, or country of employment. About 20 participants will be invited.
The Summer Institute aims to bring together computational social scientists across all levels of technical experience. 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 programming language. Students doing this preparatory work will be supported by a teaching assistant who will hold online office hours during the two months before the Institute.
We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and fields of study, especially applicants from groups currently under-represented in computational social science. We evaluate applicants along a number of dimensions: 1) research and teaching in the area of computational social science 2) contributions to public goods, such as creating open source software, curating public datasets, and creating educational opportunities for others 3) likelihood to benefit from participation 4) likelihood to contribute to the educational experience of other participants 5) potential to spread computational social science to new intellectual communities and areas of research. Further, when making our evaluations, we attempt to account for an applicant’s career stage and previous educational opportunities.
Applicants must submit the following documents: (i) a curriculum vitae; (ii) a statement of interest (maximum two pages) describing your academic background, any current research, future research ideas, and your interest in computational social science; (iii) one writing sample (no more than 35 pages); and (iv) the contact information for two academic references. Co-authored work is acceptable for the writing sample, but if you submit co-authored work, we recommend that you include a few sentences describing the contributions of each individual author. Letters of recommendation will be requested if necessary, and we will contact the referees directly at that stage.
In order to be guaranteed full consideration, all application materials must be submitted by May 1st, 2024 at 11:59pm CT. All application materials must be submitted through the link below. Applications that are not complete by the deadline may not receive full consideration. We will notify applicants solely through e-mail in late-May, and will ask participants to confirm their participation very soon thereafter. Also, if you are an international applicant, please keep in mind the time needed for visa processing.
Application link: https://forms.gle/4Yranj1byWuCC1dg7
Inquiries can be sent to chicago.sicss@gmail.com
Yes, but not at the same time. For example, you can apply to SICSS-Chicago, and then if you are not accepted you can apply to one of the other locations if it has a later deadline. However, you cannot have an applications under review at two locations simultaneously.
No. Every year we have more applicants than we can accept, and we would like everyone to have a chance to participate in SICSS once before we allow folks to participate twice.
The Summer Institute is free of charge, and we’ll cover meals. Accomodation and travel costs are not covered.
You can host a partner location of the Summer Institutes of Computational Social Science (SICSS) at your university, company, NGO, or government agency.