The University of Groningen's Department of Sociology is again offering its twin workshops on longitudinal social network analysis focused around the RSiena software. Teachers of the 2027 workshop edition will be Christian Steglich and Tom Snijders. The two workshop modules can be registered for independently.
The 16th Winter School
18–20 January 2027 · Monday–Wednesday
The Winter School introduces participants to the analysis of longitudinal, group-centered network data by way of stochastic, actor-oriented models (Snijders & Steglich, 2026). Also extensions to the case of co-evolution with actor attributes or other networks will be addressed.
The objective is that course participants develop an understanding of the models, familiarise themselves with the use of the RSiena software for model estimation, and learn how to tell a good model specification from a bad one. Participation in this introductory module should be sufficient preparation for following the advanced one.
Advanced Siena Users' Meeting (AdSUM-2027)
21–22 January 2027 · Thursday–Friday
This module will on the one hand address advanced topics and recent developments in RSiena. On the other hand, there will be a Master Class in which papers of participants are discussed.
Abstracts of participants who would like to present a paper can be submitted until 1 December 2026. Authors will be informed about acceptance by 15 December 2026. For accepted abstracts, authors are expected to submit ~10 page working papers and R-code by 5 January 2027; the ideal is that analyses would be reproducible by the teachers.
Who should participate?
For both modules, researchers who are in the process of collecting or analysing their own longitudinal data sets are especially welcome to participate and, as far as possible, work on their own data. For participants without own data, example data sets will be made available.
The workshops will take place in and around at the University of Groningen's Academy Building in downtown Groningen, The Netherlands. Prerequisites for participation in the Winter School part are familiarity with basic social network analysis, some knowledge of intermediate statistics (including logistic regression analysis), and basic familiarity with the R statistical software environment. For participation in the AdSUM part, prerequisites are experience with using RSiena, current own work using RSiena or plans for the near future.
Registration & fees
You can register using this registration form (CLICK). The maximum number of participants per course module is 30; for the Master Class, we handle a maximum of five presenters. For those who register after the maximum number is reached, a waiting list will be created.
| Job status | Winter School | AdSUM |
|---|---|---|
| Non-academics, academic staff & postdocs | €250 | €170 |
| Students & graduate students | €175 | €120 |
Fees include course materials, coffee breaks (morning and afternoon), and internet access (WiFi). For a small extra fee (€12,50) a joint dinner for all participants is planned on the Wednesday evening. Participants are expected to bring their own computer for lab exercises. Hotel accommodation, lunches and other dinners are not included in the registration fee.
Further information
For questions regarding registration, accommodation or practical matters, please contact Anita van der Hoek.