Programme and General Information

The Summer School is located at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano Campus (within walking distance from Lugano train station and city centre).

The Summer School runs for two consecutive weeks, preceded by optional 2/3 day preparatory workshops taught on Thursday/Friday and Saturday before the first week of regular workshops. During each of the two weeks of Summer School, there will be several full-time parallel workshops on both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Each regular workshop runs from Monday through Friday (from 8.30 am through 6 pm), with an average effective teaching time of 7½ to 8 hours per day, i.e. a total of up to 35-40 hours for each workshop. Exceptionally, Monday lectures start at 9.30 am after the Welcome Coffee (9.00 - 9.30 am).

All workshops will be oriented towards practical applications and spend roughly half of their time on applied work and exercises (many workshops will make use of computer software); there will be ample time to discuss and try to solve problems related to your personal research with the instructors and fellow participants. Participants are encouraged to work on their own data and research problems to get the most out of the Summer School experience.

Instructors are renowned specialists and experienced teachers in their respective fields.

Register by filling-in the on-line registration form. Registration is conditional until you have paid the Summer School fees (within three weeks of payment request receipt).

If you applied for the reduced (student) fee a copy of an official document stating your student status is required to make your registration final. Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Limited number of places: To guarantee optimal learning conditions, the number of available places per workshop is limited (typically 12-17 for workshops taught by the instructor alone, up to 22-27 when taught by an instructor and teaching assistant or co-teacher).
Registrants beyond the maximal number of participants will be placed on a waiting list, and will be informed as soon as a place becomes available. If the waiting list grows too long, registration for that workshop will be closed.
Minimum number of participants: Workshops may be cancelled if there are not enough confirmed participants (fewer than 8) by June 16th. If this happens, you will be notified by e-mail, and the paid fees will be reimbursed, or, if you prefer, you can choose to attend one of the other workshops (unless they are fully booked).
 

Registration deadline

Registrations will close on the 14th of July 2023

Please, consider the following:

1. The number of participants per workshop is limited; some workshops are very popular, so please register as early as possible.
2. Workshop fees have to be paid in advance, and registration is final only after the reception of your payment.
3. Decently priced accommodation is difficult to find at the very last minute.

Although many participants are (PhD) students or researchers, there are no formal requirements, anyone can attend. Of course, motivation to learn more about social science methods is essential.

The language in all workshops and lectures will be English, therefore active and passive command of English is expected.

The Summer School is funded through participant’s fees:

There are different kinds of fees*:

In-presence workshops

• Reduced fee: 700 Swiss Francs per weekly workshop for students (requires proof of student status).
• Normal fee: 1100 Swiss Francs per weekly workshop for all others.

Online workshops

• Reduced fee: 600 Swiss Francs per weekly workshop for students (requires proof of student status).
• Normal fee: 1000 Swiss Francs per weekly workshop for all others.

USI students:

• USI students: the fee is paid by USI.

*These fees also include participation in one of the preliminary workshops (a 2/3-day workshop preceding the Summer School). The registration fee for the Preliminary workshop booked on its own is 200 CHF.

Payments

With the Online payment, you will receive a confirmation by e-mail as soon as you complete the payment.

If you pay by bank transfer, you will receive a payment request by e-mail (within two weeks from the date of registration).

Important: Your registration is conditional until the fee has been fully paid. Your payment is due within three weeks of receiving the payment request. If you fail to complete the payment within this time, your application will be cancelled, and your place will be offered to the first person on the waiting list.

If you apply late (July or later), make sure that the payment is made a week before the Summer School starts at the very latest. If you register late, send a copy of the proof of payment to the Summer School to make sure that your payment is recorded without delay.

Reduced Fee

To qualify for the reduced fee, you are required to send a copy of an official document that certifies your current student status or a letter from your supervisor stating your actual position as a doctoral or postdoctoral researcher. Send this letter/document via e-mail to [email protected].

Upon successful completion of a workshop, you will receive a Certificate of Participation via email, attesting to the active presence of the participant during the five days of each workshop. Partial presence will be noted on the Certificate. Unfortunately, no certificate will be awarded to participants who have attended a workshop for less than three days or who have not submitted the final assignment (if requested by the instructor). For the Preliminary Workshop, a Certificate of Participation is only delivered on request. Every day your instructor will circulate a register; make sure to sign it every morning or evening, attesting to your presence.

If you consider using the Summer School workshops to obtain credits (ECTS), you will have to investigate at your home institution to find out whether they recognise the Summer School, how many credits can be earned for a workshop/course with roughly 35 hours of teaching, no graded work, and no exams. We only deliver a Certificate of Participation, i.e. we certify your presence. Make sure to investigate this matter before registering if this is important to you.