Seminars and Teaching

Accademia Fiesolana is the SPS Department’s introductory department seminar. Its objective is for first-year researchers to become familiar with the research done in the SPS department. It consists of seminar meetings in which the faculty members of the department introduce their research. There is also a session showcasing the department’s pluralism, in which two very different theoretical and methodological approaches to the same topic – identity – are brought together.

The Preparatory workshops are voluntary but recommended. The objectives of the three workshops are to prepare researchers for courses offered later in the programme and to brush up on some basic skills that researchers may need during their studies. They are offered as intensive courses over one week.

Block 1 

Accademia Fiesolana (Compulsory for all first-year researchers). No credits.
Date: 12 – 20 September 2024 
No registration required
Contact: [email protected]

Block 2

Preparatory workshops (Recommended for all first-year researchers) No credits.
Dates: from 23-27 September 2024
Register here
Contact: [email protected]

10:00 – 12:00 Mathematics for Political and Social Scientists

13:00 – 15:00 Introduction to R

15:00 – 17:00 Introduction to Qualitative Methods – Philosophy and Ethics, Interviews and Ethnography

Contact: [email protected]

Each researcher must follow and pass at least one field seminar of their choosing in the first year of studies.

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Sociology
Professor: J. HARKONEN & H. VAN DE WERFHORST
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Public Policy and Institutions 
Professor: A. HEMERIJCK & E. IMMERGUT
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Comparative Politics
Professor: S. HIX & S. RIAZ
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: International Relations
Professor: S. GUZZINI
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Introduction to Qualitative Methods
Professor: P. WAGNER
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Introduction to Quantitative Methods
Professor: A. JABBOUR
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Intermediate Qualitative Methods
Professor: J. CHECKEL
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Intermediate Quantitative Methods
Professor: A. VAN DE RIJT & F. KOSTELKA
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Europe in the world
(This seminar takes place in the 1st and 2nd term)
Professor: S. HOFMANN
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: History and Politics of the Mediterranean Middle East
Professor: R. DEL SARTO
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: European Political Economy and Public Policy
Professor: W. SCHELKLE
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Time series cross section data analysis
Professor: F. KOSTELKA
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Causal Inference
Professor: S. RIAZ
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Foundations of Political & Social Science: Philosophy & Theory
Professor: J. CHECKEL
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Political culture
Professor: E. DINAS
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Replicating Research in Political Science
Professor: S. HIX
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Europe in the world
(This seminar takes place in the 1st and 2nd term)
Professor: S. HOFMANN
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: New Institutional Behavioralism
Professor: E. IMMERGUT
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Social Media and Politics
Professor: K. MUNGER
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Classics and currents of social stratification research
Professor: H. VAN DE WERFHORST
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Discrimination: Interdisciplinary perspectives
Professor: V. DI STASIO
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Seminar in Political and Social Theory: Recognition
Professor: S. GUZZINI
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus:  Changing Welfare States
Professor: W. SCHELKLE & A. HEMERIJCK
Contact: [email protected]

Workshop Title: Prospectus workshop
Date: 15/1, 26/2 
Mentoring professor / Instructor: S. HIX, A. HEMERIJCK, A.JABBOUR & P. WAGNER
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Causal Inference with Longitudinal Data using G-Methods
Professor: Sascha Riaz
Guest Lecturer: Alejandra Rodríguez-Sánchez (University of Potsdam)
Dates: 14-16 April
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Computational Social Science Methods
Professor: Kevin Munger
Dates: 5 June + 9-12 June, 14:00-18:00
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Computational Text Analysis
Professors: Ellen Immergut & Simon Hix
Guest Lecturers: Mirko Wegemann (University of Münster), Eva Krejcova (MWF) IDHEAP - University of Lausanne
Teaching Assistant: Sara Dybeland (SPS)
Dates: 24-27 March
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Elite Interviews in Fieldwork: Techniques, Tools, and Practices
Professor: Stephanie Hofmann
Guest Lecturer: Nele Kortiendek (MWF), Mariam Salehi (FU Berlin)
Dates: 28-29 May
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Ethnographic Approaches in Social Inquiry: From Theory to Practice
Professors: Jeff Checkel & Stefano Guzzini
Guest Lecturers: Wendy Pearlman (Northwestern University), Eleanor Knott (LSE)
Dates: 12-15 May
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Event History Analysis
Professor: Juho Harkonen
Guest Lecturer: Camille Portier (MWF)
Dates: 21-22 May
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Game Theory
Professor: Elias Dinas
Guest Lecturer: Itai Sened (Tel Aviv University)
Dates: 10-11 April
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Gender and Sexualities
Professor: Léa Pessin
Dates: 23 May, 26-27 May, 30 May, and 2 June
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: International Relations in the Middle East
Professor: Raffaella Del Sarto
Dates: 17-28 March
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Mixing Methods (Qual & Quant)
Professor: Paulus Wagner
Guest Lecturer: Paulus Wagner (SPS Part-Time Professor and Max Weber Fellow)
Dates: 7-9 April
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Policy Perspectives in Research Impact
Professor: Anton Hemerijck
Guest Lecturer: TBC
Dates: 23-24 April 2025
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Qualitative Data Analysis and Coding
Professor: Waltraud Schelkle
Guest Lecturer: Wilin Buitrago Arias (University of Oxford)
Dates: 3-4-6 June
Credits: 10
Contact:  [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Social Network Analysis
Professors: Arnout van de Rijt & Herman van de Werfhorst
Guest Lecturers: Tobias Stark (Utrecht University), Dieuwke Zwier (Research Fellow, EUI)
Dates: 6-9 May
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Studying Multilateral Cooperation and Organizational Complexity
Professor: Stephanie Hofmann
Dates: 5 June + 9-12 June, 9:00-13:00
Credits: 20
Contact: [email protected]

Survey Experiments 1 (introductory) and 2 (advanced) are independent workshops. Researchers can register for either or both, depending on their experience.

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Survey Experiments 1
Professors: Filip Kostelka & Valentina di Stasio
Guest Lecturer: Alexandra Jabbour (SPS Part-Time Professor and Max Weber Fellow)
Dates: 28-29 April
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Survey Experiments 2
Professors: Filip Kostelka & Valentina di Stasio
Guest Lecturers: Mathew Creighton (University College Dublin), Alexandra Jabbour (SPS Part-Time Professor and Max Weber Fellow)
Dates: 19-20 May
Credits: 10
Contact: [email protected]

FIELD SEMINARS:
Field seminars - there are four: “Sociology”, “International Relations”, “Comparative Politics”, ”Public Policy and Institutions”. Each researcher must follow and pass at least one field seminar of their choice in the first year of studies.

METHODS SEMINARS
Methods seminars - go from compulsory introductory seminars in qualitative and quantitative methods to intermediate and more advanced mixed methodological seminars.

RESEARCH SEMINARS:
Research seminars (=non-methods, non-field) are more focused on specific, cutting- edge topics within a given substantive research area.

Each researcher must follow and pass either "Introduction to Quantitative Methods" or "Intermediate Quantitative Methods" and either "Introduction to Qualitative Methods" or "Intermediate Qualitative Methods" during the first two years of the doctoral programme

WORKSHOPS
Workshops - are shorter in duration than seminars and are concentrated in a few days (typically, two or three days). They usually take place in the third term and are mostly devoted to research methods.

To register for a seminar or workshop use the OSIRIS Online Portal.

Full attendance in the seminars and workshops, together with any other requirements specified by the professor teaching the seminar, is necessary in order to be awarded credits. One full seminar or masterclass counts for 20 hours, one specialised workshop typically counts for 10 hours (unless otherwise specified).
For any more information on the requirements please check the SPS researchers' guide.

You must take either Introduction to Quantitative Methods or Intermediate Quantitative Methods (depending on your previous quantitative methods training) during the first two years of the doctoral programme.
 Likewise, you must take either Introduction to Qualitative Methods or Intermediate Qualitative Methods (depending on your previous quantitative methods training) during the first two years of the doctoral programme.
In addition, researchers must take one of the four field seminars ("Sociology”, “Comparative Politics”, “Public Policy and Institutions”, “International Relations”) during their first year.