Berlin Summer School in Social Sciences

Alexander Kustov shared his experience

Alexander Kustov   (associate researcher at LCSR) recently participated in prestigious summer school in Berlin. He shared his experience of the school with the Lab website.

Berlin Summer School in Social Sciences is an annual academic event, which is organized by Humboldt University and Social Science Research Center (WZB) in Berlin. The school is mainly aimed at providing the general methodological training for PhD students in the field of sociology and political science. Besides that, it includes various thematic workshops, which are related to the substantive research interests of participants. For instance, I took part in the workshop on Social Inequality, Conflict, and Integration.

The main course was focused on the research design, theoretical models and their link to empirics. The organizers tried to bring together different social disciplines, as well both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Overall, there were four major topics: epistemological implications of theoretical paradigms, concepts as building blocks for theories, causation and explanation, and linking micro and macro perspectives. The lectures were taught by prominent social scientists from top US universities. Most of all, I liked the presentations of Macartan Humphreys (Columbia), Ken Bollen (Chapel Hill), Jens Hainmueller (MIT), and Guillermina Jasso (NYU). Luckily, I had a unique chance to get individuals consultations with some of the professors regarding my research.

Finally, I presented my paper on the agent-based modeling of ethnic structure and civil conflict at the thematic workshop on social inequality and conflict. Although the methodology I use in my work turned out to be quite peculiar for the seminar, I still received some valuable suggestions from the other participants. More importantly, the workshop gave me the opportunity to get to know other students and scholars who work on the substantively related issues.