Summer Institute in Computational Social Science 2024 for Nigerians

Academic Hive for African Scholars invites applications for the 2024 Summer Institute in Computational Social Science, Calabar (SICSS-Calabar) in Nigeria. This fully-funded, week-long program will take place from September 23 to 28, 2024, in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, offering a unique opportunity for scholars to engage in computational social science research and learning.

Funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the Summer Institute aims to bring together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career faculty who are interested in computational social science and data science. Participants will have the opportunity to attend lectures, participate in group problem sets, and work on research projects. The Summer Institute will also feature talks from external speakers who conduct computational social science research in academia, industry, and government.

The program will cover topics such as text as data, website scraping, digital field experiments, machine learning, and ethics. There will be ample opportunities for students to discuss ideas and research with the organizers, other participants, and visiting speakers.

Benefits

• Increased access to the field of computational social science
• In-demand data science and programming skills
• Get equipped both as a student and teacher with an open-source, modular curriculum for state-of-the-art training
• Participate in interdisciplinary research relevant to academia and industry
• Globally recognised certificate of participation…and more!

Eligibility

Applicants from all backgrounds and fields of study are welcome to apply to SICSS-Calabar, however, participation is restricted to:

• Applicants based in South-South and South-East region of Nigeria
• Postgraduate students (MSc, Ph.D.),
• Early-career University Faculty, and
• Industry Professionals with an interest in applying data science techniques to addressing pressing social problems.
• Applicants from groups currently under-represented in computational social science are especially welcome to apply.

Selection Criteria

Applicants for the SICSS-Calabar will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Research and teaching in the area of computational social science
• Contributions to public goods, such as creating open-source software, curating public datasets, and creating educational opportunities for others
• Likelihood to benefit from participation
• Likelihood to contribute to the educational experience of other participants
• Potential to spread computational social science to new intellectual communities and areas of research.

How to Apply

All interested participants for the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS-Calabar) must submit the following documents:

• A Curriculum Vitae
• A brief statement about why they wish to attend SICSS-Calabar (Not more than 500 words),
• Share a writing sample (this could be any piece of writing they own. Published or unpublished)
• A supporting letter from a supervisor/head of department/line manager/mentor that can attest to the applicant’s competence/potential and availability.
• All application materials must be submitted through the online Form. Applications that are not complete by the deadline may not receive full consideration. They will notify applicants solely through e-mail and will ask participants to confirm their participation thereafter.

In order to be guaranteed full consideration, all application materials must be submitted on or before July 31st 2024. Inquiries can be sent to sicsscalabar@gmail.com.