2010
IPSA is deeply committed to its mission to promote the development of political science worldwide. While the use of concepts, methods and techniques in political science has long been entrenched in Europe and North America, political science curricula at many universities elsewhere fail to provide adequate training opportunities in research methods and techniques.
In the United States, a decades-old regular summer school on research methods and techniques has been offered at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbour; in Western Europe, a similar institution was established at the University of Essex in the 1970s; and in Central and Eastern Europe, the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) created and held the University of Ljubljana Summer School, until it was moved to the Central European University in Budapest from 2016 to 2020. Since 2021, ECPR's Summer School in Research Methods and Techniques has been held virtually in collaboration with KU Leuven.
Under the leadership of Dirk Berg-Schlosser (Vice-President, 2006-2009), IPSA decided in 2009 to offer similar summer schools to help students improve their methodological skill set, establish connections with peers from all over the world, and share these skills with their colleagues.
First IPSA Summer School: The IPSA-USP Summer School in São Paulo, Brazil
The first IPSA Summer School was established through a cooperative partnership between IPSA and the Department of Political Science and the Institute of International Relations of the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, in February 2010. The primary goal of the 2010 IPSA Summer School was to provide young social scientists from Brazil and other South American countries with access to high-quality and state-of-the-art training in qualitative and quantitative social science methods. This inaugural Summer School brought together top-notch students and excellent faculty for a truly dynamic two weeks. Today, the IPSA-USP Summer School is widely regarded as one of the largest and most significant summer schools in the region.
Other IPSA Summer Schools
The IPSA-NUS Method School was established in 2012 in cooperation with the National University of Singapore (NUS). It is recognized as the leading program for basic and advanced methods training in the Asia-Pacific region and brings together participants from all over the region as well as Africa, Europe, and North America.
The IPSA-FLACSO Mexico Summer School on Concepts, Methods and Techniques in Political Science was created in 2016 at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Mexico City. It offers an intensive two-week program of eight courses on quantitative and qualitative methods, including mixed methods, survey analysis, data science, and quantitative public policy analysis.
The IPSA-HSE Summer School was inaugurated in 2017. Organized by the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in St. Petersburg, Russia, it aims to help students improve their abilities to use modern methods of political and social research, as well as to develop cooperation amongst young scholars. The 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions were suspended.
Initially held at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara (Türkiye) from 2013 to 2015, the IPSA Summer School in Türkiye moved to the Antalya Bilim University in 2019, where the Continuing Education Center provides logistic support for the school. It offers advanced training for graduate students and scholars aiming to strengthen their methodological skills.
The first edition of the IPSA-Federica Summer School in Concept Analysis in the Web Environment was jointly organized by Federica Web Learning and IPSA in September 2018 on the island of Capri (Italy). It offered a creative mix of online and face-to-face learning, providing participants with advanced theoretical and practical training in the methodology of concept analysis.
IPSA is expanding its Summer School program with two new schools. In 2024, the IPSA-AECPA Summer School on Political Communication Methods will be launched in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Political and Administrative Science (AECPA). Also in 2024, the IPSA-Poznań Summer School for Methods in Political Science, New Media, and Communication Research will be held in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.
Presently, IPSA offers seven annual summer schools in methodology:
- IPSA-Antalya Summer Method School for Social Science Research Methods (Antalya, Turkey);
- IPSA-Federica Summer School - Digital Thinking: Concept Analysis in the Web Environment (Capri, Italy and starting in 2024, Naples);
- IPSA-FLACSO Mexico Summer School - Concepts, Methods and Techniques in Political Science (Mexico City, Mexico);
- IPSA-USP Summer School in Concepts, Methods and Techniques in Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations (São Paulo, Brazil);
- IPSA-NUS Summer School for Social Science Research Methods (Singapore);
- IPSA-AECPA Summer School on Political Communication Methods, Spain;
- IPSA-Poznań Summer School for Methods in Political Science, New Media and Communication Research (Poznań, Poland).
IPSA offers a summer school program in applied diplomacy in addition to the method schools. The IPSA-Concordia Summer School in Applied Diplomacy first took place in June 2021 in a full virtual format, and offered a dynamic and intellectually stimulating experience, with a combination of theoretical and policy-oriented seminars. The sessions were complemented by a hands-on Diplomacy Lab, where participants worked in teams on real-world case studies. Students were presented with compelling real-time scenarios by actual diplomats and tasked with formulating policy recommendations, which they presented at the end of the program of the Summer School. In 2024, the school's name was changed to the IPSA-Concordia Summer Institute in Applied Diplomacy.
