General Information

The Summer School is located at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano Campus (within walking distance from Lugano train station and city centre).

The Summer School runs for two consecutive weeks, preceded by optional 2/3 day preparatory workshops taught on Thursday/Friday and Saturday before the first week of regular workshops. During each of the two weeks of Summer School, there will be several full-time parallel workshops on both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Each regular workshop runs from Monday through Friday (from 8.30 am through 6 pm), with an average effective teaching time of 7½ to 8 hours per day, i.e. a total of up to 35-40 hours for each workshop. Exceptionally, Monday lectures start at 9.30 am after the Welcome Coffee (9.00 - 9.30 am).

All workshops will be oriented towards practical applications and spend roughly half of their time on applied work and exercises (many workshops will make use of computer software); there will be ample time to discuss and try to solve problems related to your personal research with the instructors and fellow participants. Participants are encouraged to work on their own data and research problems to get the most out of the Summer School experience.

Instructors are renowned specialists and experienced teachers in their respective fields.

Registration is only possible using the on-line registration form and is conditional until you have paid by online payment or bank transfer (within 30 days of the reception of the invoice).

If you pay with online payment, you will be registered as soon as you receive the payment confirmation.

If you applied for the reduced (student) fee, a recommendation letter/copy of an official document stating your student status is required to make your registration final.

Registration deadline: 17th of July 2026.

Although the courses have been mostly conceived to answer the needs of postgraduate students, doctoral students and researchers who need to learn research methods for their research projects, there a no formal requirements: anyone who is motivated can apply. Note that many workshops have some prerequisites.

The Summer School is funded through participant’s fees:

There are different kinds of fees:

Preliminary workshops:

• 250 Swiss Francs for all participants.

In-presence workshops

• Reduced fee: 800 Swiss Francs per weekly workshop for students (requires proof of student status).
• Normal fee: 1200 Swiss Francs per weekly workshop for all others.

USI students:

• USI students: the fee is covered by USI.

Payments

With the online payment, you will receive a confirmation by e-mail as soon as you complete the payment.

If you pay by bank transfer, you will receive an invoice by e-mail (within two weeks from the date of registration).

Important: Your registration is conditional until the fee has been fully paid. Your payment is due within 30 days of receiving the invoice. If you don't complete the payment within this time, your application will be cancelled, and your place will be offered to the first person on the waiting list.

If you apply late (July or later), make sure that the payment is made a week before the Summer School starts at the very latest. If you register late, send a copy of the proof of payment to the Summer School to make sure that your payment is recorded without delay.

Reduced Fee

To qualify for the reduced fee, you are required to send a copy of an official document that certifies your current student status or a letter from your supervisor stating your actual position as a doctoral or postdoctoral researcher. Send this letter/document via e-mail to [email protected].

The Summer School cannot grant credits. We only deliver a Certificate of Participation, i.e. we certify your attendance.

If you consider using Summer School workshops to obtain credits (ECTS), you will have to investigate at your home institution (contact the person/institute responsible for your degree) to find out whether they recognise the Summer School, how many credits can be earned from a workshop/course with roughly 35 hours of teaching, no graded work, and no exams.

Make sure to investigate this matter before registering if this is important to you.