The fifth edition of the SPS Summer Academy hosted 30 master students from across Europe at the EUI’s Badia Fiesolana for a week-long programme of lectures and workshops. Participants discussed cutting-edge research currently undertaken at the EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences, attended formal presentations of the EUI PhD programme, and engaged with current PhD researchers in informal social settings, fostering further networking and collaboration. This edition of the SPS Summer Academy continued to promote pan-European academic mobility and cooperation, offering students the chance to broaden their academic horizons and forge lasting connections with peers and mentors.
People
Professors
The academic programme was led by distinguished EUI faculty members:
- Prof. Ellen M. Immergut (SPS) on welfare state reform and the political challenges of policy responsiveness;
- Prof. Jeffrey T. Checkel (SPS) on international institutions, identity politics, and the populist backlash;
- Prof. Arnout van de Rijt (SPS) on social stratification and computational social science;
- Prof. Simon Hix (SPS) on political behaviour, EU institutions, and electoral system design;
- Prof. Filip Kostelka (SPS) on political participation, protest behaviour, and regime change;
- Prof. Klarita Gërxhani (SPS) on economic sociology, gender inequalities, and informal economies.
Each session encouraged critical discussion and connected academic theory with pressing European and global challenges, fostering a dynamic and interdisciplinary learning environment.
Keynote Speaker
The keynote lecture was delivered by Prof. Ellen Immergut, Head of the SPS Department. Her talk explored public trust, health policy, and democratic resilience in the post-COVID era, setting the tone for a week of interdisciplinary engagement.
Testimonials
Participants of the Summer Academy 2024:
- I really enjoyed the Summer Academy! I am very happy I applied for this and that I got to spend a week at the EUI. I had never seriously thought of doing a PhD, and now that is an option more than ever. Thank you to the EUI for this opportunity!”
- “I am really glad that I was able to attend the summer academy. Meeting new ambitious friends from similar fields but with different interests, who are master students as well, was absolutely astonishing. The opportunity of heaving the lectures by some of the most cited scholars in the social sciences was a great opportunity to discover new topics and awesome people, about which I, until now, just read was really interesting.”
- “So wonderful! The content was inspiring, the organization was great, and the peers were very friendly. I am very grateful for the opportunity and will be applying for the PhD programme in the coming years.”
- “It was a great way to meet other likeminded students and to engage with their research, as well as the main themes at the EUI. The programmes outside of the academic lectures were also a great way to get to know Florence and my fellow scholars better which can provide benefits for the future. The professors were great and passionate, I enjoyed their teaching a lot.”
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