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International Summer School in Uganda (ISSU)

03-14 October 2022, Masaka/Uganda

General information and course program

We are excited to announce the International Summer School in Uganda: Survey Methodology and Data Management (ISSU), to be held at Muteesa I Royal University in Masaka, Uganda. The Summer School is funded by the VW Foundation and jointly organized by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany, and Muteesa I Royal University, Uganda. It will bring together 50 participants from Germany, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2nd ISSU has been postponed by one year (new dates: 03-14 October 2022)!

The Summer School seeks to provide participants with an intense training in social science research methods as well as to foster international research collaboration and intercultural exchange. Over the course of two weeks, the International Summer School in Uganda offers four one-week courses on social science research methods. Courses are taught by internationally renowned scholars and lectures in each course are complemented by hands-on exercises, giving participants the opportunity to apply their newly acquired knowledge in practice. Participants can choose from one of two courses per week.

Week 1 (03-07 October 2022)

Week 2 (10-14 October 2022)

Participation in the ISSU

Participation in the Summer School is open to up to 50 participants from Germany, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, all of whom will receive a scholarship covering travel costs, accommodation, and course fees. PhD students and postdocs from Germany, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania may apply for scholarships to participate in the International Summer School in Uganda. Scholarships are only available for taking part in both weeks of the Summer School. Applications will be evaluated by an international selection committee based on academic criteria. For the full Calls for Applications, please see below.

Please note the following formal eligibility criteria:

  • Participants must hold at least a master’s degree (or equivalent).
  • Participants must have a good basic knowledge of social science research methods and statistics.
  • Participants must have a good command of English (at least equivalent to CEFR level C1).
  • Full professors should not apply.

For more information, please see the Calls for Applications:

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Hardware and software requirements

Participants are expected to bring their own laptops for use in the courses. All courses will use R as a statistical software and expect some basic knowledge on how to use R. R is a free, open-source programming language that is increasingly used in the social sciences. You can download and install R for free from this website. We recommend you also install R Studio, which is a graphical user interface for R. If you are completely unfamiliar with R, you should prepare for the courses by completing this free online tutorial. You can also find some introductory information on R here. Please note that some of the courses require the use of specific packages for R. Please download and install these packages on your computer before the start of the course. You can find a list of required R packages in the syllabus of each course.