The 9th ECPR Summer School in Methods and Techniques took place at the University of Ljubljana

Twenty eight courses ran throughout the 2014 Summer School with the most popular being the one-week course on ‘Qualitative Data Analysis: Methods and Procedures’ (Instructor - Marie-Hélène Paré) which actually ran for two weeks such was the demand from participants. The most popular two-week course was ‘Set-Theoretic Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Related Approaches’ (Instructors - Carsten Schneider and Patrick Mello) and the most popular Refresher Course: ‘Introduction to R’ (taught by Andrej Blejec).

Whilst the ECPR’s Methods School (and both events within it - the Summer and Winter Schools) have become synonymous with high quality, cutting edge teaching, they are also becoming well known for the supporting plenary programme.

The Methods School organisers both at the ECPR and the local host institution go to great lengths to provide a fun, stimulating and inclusive set of events, aimed to support young scholars at the start of their careers (the Brown Bag Lectures) and create vital networks for future support and collaboration (social events).

This year’s Brown Bag Lectures provided advice on the vitally important themes of ‘Getting the first job’ and ‘Getting published’ alongside fascinating talks on ‘Extremism in Europe’ and ‘Lessons from 2014 European Parliament elections’.

Outside of the classroom participants could challenge themselves physically too, with organised sessions for rafting and hiking; or satisfy their interest in history and geography through a tour of the Castle of Lubljana and the beautiful Alpine resort of Bled Bohinj.