Application Instructions & FAQs (for participants)

There are no strict criteria for eligibility. However, applicants should have finished at least their undergraduate studies (BA degree) and have a certain command of scientific work and an idea of scientific projects.

You should have some knowledge of and experience in either CSS methods or the research topic of the summer school.  You should be willing to learn a new method and/or engage with a new research topic. Some basic understanding of a programming language (R or python) will be of advantage for most projects though not a necessity.

We recommend to all applicants to describe their experience with and knowledge of the research topic and/or CSS methods as well as programming languages and statistical software.

No, not in general.

The main target group is, however, advanced MA-level and doctoral students. We also invite postdocs who want to engage in a new field of research or method to apply.

You must apply online via the web-based tool EasyChair. You find instructions and required documents on our application page – click here.

Please note that we do not offer doctoral degree or postdoc programs. The research incubator project features a series of three summer schools. As a researcher, independent of your stage, you can apply for participation in the two-weeks summer school program.

In a first step, we select participants based on their general fit to the summer school. In this stage, participants are not finally tied to a project team. Experts will be involved in reviewing applications. These will likely (but not necessarily) be leaders of the projects, the applicant has selected in his or hers application. In a second step, the matching with the project is considered.

The final decision of acceptance will be done by the organizers.

Once participants are selected, we will do a preliminary matching of participants and projects. We will inform you about your preliminary assigned project with the invitation to the summer school or shortly after. Changing a project may be possible if you find another participants who is willing to switch projects with you.

The targeted size of each team is five, including two experts and three participants.

The proposed projects are preliminary. Project leaders offer a project on a topic on which they can supervise participants and we ask our experts to be open for proposals of their team members. However, the decision if a proposal of a participant can be integrated is up to the project leaders. In addition, you may have noticed already that some projects are further developed than others.

Once participants are selected and the project teams are matched, hypotheses, data sources, and/or methodologies might be developed further. This could differ between projects and is decided by the project leaders.

No. The experts are also involved in the reviewing process. Therefore, we ask you to refrain from contacting the experts on inquiries about selection or your project proposal. You can ask questions about the project, but we do not oblige them to answer questions.

You are only eligible for a travel grant if your home institution does not cover your travel expenses. You have to give proof of this in your application. You also have to briefly explain your need of a travel grant.

If you are granted a travel grant, your travel expenses are reimbursed up to country-specific caps (see question “Is the travel grant capped and if so at which rate?”). Refund of travel expenses will be after the summer school has ended and if you have handed in all original travel receipts and tickets.

A letter stating that your home institution (i.e. institution that you are affiliated with or are enrolled at) does not cover your travel expenses. The letter needs to be issued by your home institution and signed by a representative of this institution.

We do not have templates for this.

The registration fee will be waived if you are from a low-income country. For a list, see next question.

We refer to the official list of the World Bank differentiating countries into the categories low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income, and high-income countries.The following countries belong to the group of low-income countries: Afghanistan, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Korea (Dem. People’s Rep), South Sudan, Burundi, Liberia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Syrian Arab Republic, Chad, Malawi, Togo, Congo (Dem. Rep), Mali, Uganda, Eritrea, Mozambique, Yemen (Rep.), Ethiopia, Niger,
Gambia, Rwanda, Guinea, Sierra Leone.

Find the complete World Bank classification and relating documentation here: https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/topics/19280-country-classification

Yes. We cannot allocate participants with laptops.