The Computational Social Science (CSSci) Bachelor’s programme has just successfully completed its first year of student instruction. The programme gives students the theoretical, methodological, and data science skills needed to understand and intervene in our world’s “wicked problems.” It aims to educate change-makers capable of designing and implementing effective digital interventions.

Lecturers in the programme will present an overview of this new, interdisciplinary programme and discuss the successes and challenges that were encountered during its inaugural year. Regina Nockerts will discuss the unique structure of the degree programme and how it relates to the programme’s pedagogical approach. She will share some of the lessons learned on how to incorporate research projects with external partners into the undergraduate classroom. Diliara Valeeva will present some of the CSSci students’ research results, focusing on their interdisciplinary nature. She will show both successful and unsuccessful projects, in order to reflect on the factors that contribute to project success and how we can respond to unanticipated challenges that arise when working with external partners. 

Speakers

Regina Nockerts is a Docent in Computational Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, appointed through the Sociology department. She received her PhD in International Relations from the University of Denver. Her research focuses on international labour migration and human rights. She is currently concentrating on curriculum development and project integration for the Bachelor’s programme in Computational Social Sciences. 

Diliara Valeeva is an Assistant Professor in Computational Social Science at the Political science department of the University of Amsterdam. She received her PhD at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research in 2021. Before joining the UvA, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Geography department of the KU Leuven. Diliara's current research is on business and finance, corporate elites and power, and social networks.

Programme