ZEW Launches Summer Courses in Cooperation with the University of Mannheim
Dates and NewsZEW Summer Courses on Scientific Qualifications
In July and August 2019, four summer courses on qualifications for young academics took place for the first time at ZEW. The ZEW Summer Courses are part of a close cooperation with the University of Mannheim within the framework of the PhD track of the Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics (CDSE) and were made possible thanks to the support of the state of Baden-Württemberg. Around 40 young researchers from ZEW and the University of Mannheim took part in the four courses on current economic issues.
The ZEW Summer Courses are elective courses, which are offered in the form of block courses in order to support doctoral students with their thesis. A special feature of these courses is that they are held in July and August during the period between terms in addition to the comprehensive range of courses offered as part of the CDSE PhD track at the University of Mannheim. The ZEW Summer Courses complement the curriculum by adding classes taught by renowned professors from different universities.
Facilitating exchange with renowned international researchers
ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach comments on the successful launch of the new summer courses: “This new format allows us to invite leading international researchers to ZEW to share their knowledge. This provides doctoral students from ZEW and the University of Mannheim with opportunities for further training and scientific exchange with top researchers in their areas in addition to the regular curriculum. I would like to extend my thanks to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts for its support and for making these courses offered by ZEW in cooperation with PhD track of the Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics at the University of Mannheim possible.”
Summer courses start off with a broad range of economic issues
This year, ZEW had the privilege to welcome four internationally renowned external professors as lecturers of the ZEW Summer Courses. The summer courses started with a course entitled “Matching Models and Applications” held by Professor Albert Banal-Estañol from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, who shed light on the specific applications of these empirical methods in the area of industrial economics. In addition, Bernd Fitzenberger, professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin and director of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), taught the course “Quantile Regression”, an empirical method that is well-suited to analyse labour market and distribution issues. Professor Mike Price from the University of Alabama came from the US and offered a course on the benefits and use of field experiments in economic research (“Advances and Applications of Field Experiments in Economics”). The last course entitled “Casual Machine Leaning” was held by Professor Michael Lechner from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, who discussed the application of machine learning methods – a highly relevant topic in the field of artificial intelligence – in economic research with the doctoral students. After the course, he concluded: “The ZEW Summer Courses are a great opportunity for young academics to learn new knowledge in a concise way through exchange with others. The contents and methods they learn during the courses will help them in their research and their doctoral thesis. For me as a lecturer, it was a great pleasure to engage in lively debates, to speak with the PhD students about the contents of the course and their research topics, and to exchange ideas with researchers at ZEW.” In light of the positive feedback from both lecturers and participants, the ZEW Summer Courses are set to take place in the summer of 2020.
