Conferences

IQSS is proud to sponsor a wide variety of conferences intended to foster collaboration among scholars. It is through the free exchange of ideas, constructive critique, and healthy debate that progress and change occurs in the social sciences.

Most of our conferences are held on an annual basis in conjunction with IQSS affiliated faculty, the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, and distinguished faculty from academic institutions nationally and internationally. Topics have included survey research, geographic analysis, and political and economic policy. Many of these conferences are by invitation only, but some are open to the public. Please visit this site regularly for updated information on upcoming conferences.

Eric M. Mindich Conference on Experimental Social Science

Eric M. Mindich Conference on Experimental Social Science

Sponsored through the generosity of Eric Mindich, this annual conference explores the latest empirical research in the social sciences that has potential application to practical social problems. Recent conferences have explored such topics as bargaining strategies, behavioral finance, implicit prejudice, the nature of religious belief, small interventions with large effects, and the social psychology of everyday unethical behavior.

All IQSS affiliates are invited to submit proposals for topics (and visitors) that meet the Experimental Social Science theme.  For details, see Funding, Faculty Conferences.

Current Year's Conferences

New Directions in Text Analysis (2008-2009)

May 29-30, 2009

This conference brings together a group of approximately 45 scholars in the social sciences, biomedical sciences, humanities, and law (substantive researchers), along with methodological innovators in computer science, computational linguistics, and statistics (technical researchers). Specifically, the conference aims to a) provide substantive researchers with a better idea of cutting edge methods for natural language processing; b) provide technical researchers a better sense of the fundamental questions that drive much empirical work in the humanities, social sciences, law, and biomedical sciences; and c) identify points of intersection between important substantive problems and open methodological problems.

Survey Research (2008-2009)

April 17, 2009

It is widely recognized that survey research faces methodological challenges which have created general skepticism about survey research as a method among many practitioners and consumers.   At the same time, new technologies have dramatically lowered costs for some types of survey methods (especially opt-in web surveys), resulting in a proliferation of new data.  Unfortunately, a lack of methodological transparency and gaps between the way that survey methodologists understand survey quality and the way survey data are often reported limit the use of many of these new surveys both for the study of survey methodology and substantive inquiry. This conference is designed to bring together experts in survey methodology and important practitioners from the media, government, and major academic surveys to discuss our current understanding of survey quality, the challenges presented in designing and using survey data in light of rapidly emerging technologies, and the opportunities that increasing variation in survey methods may provide for better understanding the nature of survey data and social phenomena. 

Past Years' Conferences

Conference on Computational Social Science (2007-2008)

Sponsored by IQSS, the Program on Networked Governance, the Legatum Center, and the Living the Future Project.

The development of enormous computational power and the capacity to collect enormous amounts of data has proven transformational in a number of scientific fields. The emergence of a computational social science has been slower than in the sciences. However, the combination of the still exponentially increasing computational power with a massive increase in the capturing of data about human behavior makes the emergence of a field of computational social science desirable, but not inevitable.
Eric M. Mindich Encounters with Authors Symposium

Eric M. Mindich Encounters with Authors Symposium

The annual Eric M. Mindich Encounters with Authors Conference is an opportunity for one or more authors to present a major work still in progress. The conference typically takes the form a week-long series of talks, but the structure is flexible and we can accomodate different approaches.

We invite proposals to run our annual Eric M. Mindich Encounters with Authors Conference, typically a week-long series of talks by authors of a major work still in progress. The symposium offers scholars an extended, intensive seminar with the authors of new, path-breaking scholarly works. You can propose to invite specific scholars to give the talks, or to give the talks about a project on which you are working. Proposals for other formats are welcome, too.

IQSS pays all conference expenses, arranges invitations, and provides necessary administrative and staff support.

Current Year's Symposium

Note: An agenda for the 2009 symposium is not available at this time.

Past Years' Symposiums

2007 Symposium on A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting Human History

October 3-4, 2007
Rm S030, 1730 Cambridge St (CGIS South Building)

Douglass North, John Wallis and Barry Weingast

Professors Douglass North (Washington University), John Wallis (University of Maryland) and Barry Weingast (Stanford University) conducted meetings that featured a mix of lecture and discussion components. Sessions took place at Room S030, 1730 Cambridge St.
Center for Geographic Analysis Spring Conference

Center for Geographic Analysis Spring Conference

The annual CGA conferences are designed for Harvard graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty who want to learn spatial analysis and how to apply GIS methods in their research.

Current Year's Conference

2009 Harvard GIS Summer Institute

June 8-19, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM daily

This June the CGA will offer intensive training in geographic information systems. Throughout the ten day conference, participants will be introduced to geographic information science and technology; spatial data development, management, and manipulation; spatial analysis concepts, tools, and procedures; hands-on use of ArcGIS and similar software; tours of GIS resources on campus, guest speakers from diverse disciplines introducing research with GIS in their fields; and one-on-one consultation and step-by-step guidance through the participants’ individual projects. The last day of the program will be devoted to project presentations.

Past Years' Conferences

Please see the attached PDF from the 2008 conference.

Files
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CGA_Conference_2008.pdf
Program on Survey Research Conference

Program on Survey Research Conference

The Program on Survey Research is an interdisciplinary scientific program within IQSS that encourages and facilitates research and instruction in the theory and practice of survey research. The primary missions of PSR are to provide survey research resources to enhance the quality of teaching and research at Harvard, and to become an internationally recognized center of excellence in survey methods.

Current Year's Conference

2009 PSR Spring Conference on Survey Quality

April 17, 2009

How should we evaluate survey quality?  What are the tradeoffs that must be considered? Which quality metrics should be reported in published research? What are the challenges and opportunities for improving survey quality? This important conference will include experts from the academic, government, commercial, and media worlds to discuss this important topic.

Note: An agenda is not available at this time.

Past Years' Conferences

2008 Harvard Program on Survey Research Spring Conference
New Technologies and Survey Research

May 9, 2008

Rm K354, 1737 Cambridge St (CGIS Knafel Building)

New technologies and changes in the ways people communicate with each other present new challenges and new opportunities for researchers. This conference focused on the challenges and opportunities of new technologies for survey research. We explored how strategies and standards for reaching respondents are changing in the face of new technological challenges. We also learned about new laws and regulations about the use of these technologies and discussed how they may impact research practice.  A session focused on the internet looked at the challenges and opportunities posed by the internet, focusing both on the accuracy of volunteer internet samples and on the opportunities for survey research presented by Web 2.0.  A session looking at mobile phones discussed the growth of this new technology, the challenges it presents for survey research, and reviewed methods of sampling and interviewing mobile telephone users.
Political Institutions and Economic Policy Conference

Political Institutions and Economic Policy Conference

These invitation-only conferences are sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and IQSS. Over the past 25 years, two separate strands of research in political economy have developed. The first is the rigorous analysis of the impact of political institutions on political behavior and political outcomes. The second is the analysis of the making of economic policy, which has tried to develop theoretically consistent and empirically grounded. For more information on PEIP conferences, visit the Weatherhead PEIP Conference page.

Current Year's Conference

2009 PEIP Conference

Note: An agenda is not available at this time.

Past Years' Conferences

2008 Research Group on Political Institutions and Economic Policy

December 6, 2008
Rm S020 (Belfer Case Study Room), 1730 Cambridge St (CGIS South Building)

Sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, IQSS, and Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.
MERSIH Conference

MERSIH Conference

The MERSIH Conference is sponsored in part by the IQSS.

Current Year's Conference

Note: An agenda for the 2009 conference is not available at this time.

Past Years' Conferences

2008 Meeting on Methodology for Empirical Research on Social Interactions, Social Networks, and Health

May 2 and 3, 2008

Organized by:
Professor Charles F. Manski, Department of Economics and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University
Professor Nicholas A. Christakis, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School and Department of Sociology, Harvard University

Hosted by:
IQSS, Harvard University
Networks in Political Science Conference

Networks in Political Science Conference

The Networks in Political Science Conference is sponsored in part by the IQSS.

Current Year's Conference

2009 Networks in Political Science Conference

June 11 to 13, 2009
Presenter/Moderator - David Lazer and James Fowler, Harvard University and UC San Diego

IQSS
1737 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA

This three-day conference took place in the Tsai Auditorium (Rm S010, 1730 Cambridge St), Belfer Case Study Rooom (Rm S020, 1730 Cambridge St), and Rm S250 at 1730 Cambridge St. 

Select the following link to view full conference itinerary:
http://www.iq.harvard.edu/events/node/1806

Past Years' Conferences

For details about the 2008 conference, visit the Harvard Kennedy School Program on Networked Governence web page.