ViDSS International Workshops

ViDSS International Workshops are one- or two-day workshops with international lecturers. The workshops take place at the University of Vienna, are initiated and organised by students and provide methodological training and international networking opportunities for doctoral candidates in the social sciences at the University of Vienna. The workshops are a supplement to the course programme and may focus on the presentation of new methodological approaches, hands-on training or the discussion of doctoral candidates’ research projects.

 Summer semester of 2024

“Automated image and video analysis for social scientists”
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences

29–30 April 2024

Digitisation has both increased the presence of images in daily life and made it easier for scholars to access and collect large quantities of pictures. In this course, we’ll dig into the necessary theoretical and methodological expertise needed to apply machine learning methods to address social science questions. We will combine theoretical sessions where we’ll discuss research using computer vision methods for the study of politics, communication science, etc. with sessions where we’ll cover in detail key methodological advances needed to fully understand state-of-the-art computer vision methods (deep learning, neural networks, convolutional neural networks, etc.), as well as practical sessions where we’ll go over Python tutorials implementing different computer vision techniques, for image processing (e.g. splitting videos into analytical frames), object and face detection, image (supervised and unsupervised) classification, facial trait analysis, etc.

For more information about the programme and registration please see the call for applications. Application deadline: 17 March 2024

Organisers: Hannah Greber and Daniel Wiesner

Felicia Loecherbach

Postdoctoral fellow at the Center of Social Media and Politics (CSMaP), New York University

Contact
fl2439@nyu.edu
felicialoecherbach.com


“Applying sequence analysis in the social sciences”
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences

16–17 May 2024 (online)

This two-day workshop delves into the practical application of sequence analysis for social science research. Sequence analysis, originally developed in biology and computational science, has attracted increasing attention in the social sciences for the analysis of longitudinal data. Most applications focus on life course processes, including labour market careers, transitions to adulthood, or family formation, but in the past few years the number of applications in other fields of the social sciences has been growing. Starting from the book “Sequence Analysis” (2023) by Marcel Raab and Emanuela Struffolino, the first day covers a brief introduction to the method, a step-by-step guide to its application and recent methodological developments tailored at social science research questions. On the second day, the spotlight shifts to practical applications of sequence analysis, featuring works in progress by PhD students who are incorporating this method in their dissertations.

For more information about the programme and registration please see the call for applications. Application deadline: 2 April 2024

Organisers: Christina Siegert and Maria Köpping

Emanuela Struffolino

Assistant professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan

Contact
emanuela.struffolino@unimi.it
emanuela-struffolino.com


Marcel Raab

Senior researcher at the State Institute for Family Research, University of Bamberg

Contact
marcel.raab@ifb.uni-bamberg.de
marcelraab.de

 

 


Are you interested in organising a ViDSS International Workshop?

The ViDSS supports students in organising ViDSS International Workshops by providing financial support to invite lecturers, by offering help in finding suitable seminar rooms at the University of Vienna and by providing advice during the organisation process.

The organisation of and participation in ViDSS International Workshops can be recognised as achievements relevant to the curriculum of the doctoral programme in Social Sciences (participation: 2 ECTS credits, organisation: 3 ECTS credits).

If you want to submit an application for a ViDSS International Workshop, please send the following information in one single PDF file to the ViDSS administration team (email to eva.koessner@univie.ac.at):

  • Title of the workshop
  • Short abstract
  • Preliminary programme
  • Suggested date
  • Department/s where the workshop will be held
  • Names of the doctoral candidates who organise the workshop: ViDSS International Workshops should be jointly organised by two or three doctoral candidates.
  • Names of at least five doctoral candidates who would be interested in participating in the workshop
  • Budget plan including estimated travel and accommodation expenses and fees for lecturers
  • CV of the visiting scholar/s

The ViDSS recommends that doctoral candidates ask their supervisors or another senior Faculty member at the University of Vienna to support the initiative and to offer advice during the organisation process.

The ViDSS steering committee discusses applications during their regular meetings and decides on their funding. Doctoral candidates can apply for a maximum amount of € 2,000 per workshop for travel and accommodation costs, fees for lecturers, and food and drinks. The maximum amount of funding for the fee of the lecturer is € 800 per day. Allocation of grants is based on the available budget.

ViDSS International workshops should be open to all ViDSS members. If places are available, doctoral candidates in the social sciences at the University of Vienna who have not (yet) joined the ViDSS or candidates from other doctoral programmes should be able to join. The workshops should be held in English. To apply for funding, doctoral candidates must be members of the ViDSS.

Please note that applications have to be submitted in English.

If you are looking for additional support in organising ViDSS International Workshops, you can also contact the Representation of PhD students in the Social Sciences.


Past ViDSS International Workshops


“Supervised and unsupervised methods for automated content analysis

International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences
6–7 July 2023
Visiting scholar: Johannes Gruber (Department of Communication Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Organisers: Paul Balluff and Marvin Stecker


Unleashing the potential of geography in social sciences: An introduction to GIS with R.
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, organised by the Empirical Political Science PhD Club
12–14 June 2023
Visiting scholar: Fernando de la Cuesta (University Complutense of Madrid)
Organisers: Jeanne Marlier and Beatriz Lasheras Mas


“Experimenting with digital methods in qualitative research”

International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Science and Technology Studies
10–11 November 2022
Visiting scholars: Tommaso Venturini (Medi@lab of the University of Geneva), Kari De Pryck (University of Grenoble Alpes)
Organisers: Pouya Sepehr and Virdzhiniia Vargolskaia
Missed the workshop? Read the blog post Nothing if not critical: Exploring digital methods beyond qualitative and quantitative approaches!

“The applications of power analysis in the social sciences”
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Communication
4–5 May 2022
Visiting scholar: Niklas Johannes (Adolescent Well-Being in the Digital Age programme at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford)
Organisers: Anna Lia Brunetti, Teresa Weikmann and Selina Noetzel
Missed the workshop? Download the materials (slides and exercises)!

“Mobile experience sampling”
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences,
Department of Communication
10–11 June 2021
Visiting Scholar: Lukas P. Otto (Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam)
Organiser: Manina Mestas

“What can ethnography really do?”
13th ethnodoks* workshop for PhDs & International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

4–6 June 2021
Visiting Scholars: Tanja Ahlin (University of Amsterdam), Isabelle Clair (Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris), Mirco Göpfert (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main), Kristine Krause (University of Amsterdam)
Organisers: Marlene Persch, Catherine Polishchuk and Milo Strauss​