Maëlle Delouis-Jost and Alessandra Stampi-Bombelli at Visions in Methodology
From May 28 to 30, Maëlle Delouis-Jost and Dr. Alessandra Stampi-Bombelli attended the 14th Visions in Methodology (VIM) conference, held for the first time in Europe at the Hertie School in Berlin. VIM brings together scholars who identify as women and who work in political methodology. The aim is to present research and discuss the parts of academic life that don’t often make it onto a syllabus or to larger conference settings: how to build a network, how to teach and prepare teaching material, how to negotiate, how to say no. This year's edition, organized by Asya Magazinnik and the Hertie School's Data Science Lab, drew over 70 participants across career stages, from PhD students to full professors.
Maëlle won the poster prize for her work on conscription and belonging in unified Germany.
Alessandra presented work on an experiment on naturalization barriers, done in collaboration with the City of Zurich.
Beyond the sessions, they came back with plenty of hands-on advice, some of it about research and some of it about how to survive academia. A few examples: horizontal networks matter more than people think, since the peers met at conferences like this one become future co-authors, discussants, and workshop collaborators. This also alleviates the pressure for junior researchers to meet more senior researchers. Invited talks are less mysterious than they look: most people invite themselves or get invited by someone they met exactly at events like VIM. Seeking out senior allies that will vouch for you and bring forward your complaints within a department or institutional setting can help navigate early-career risks. And a rule worth remembering for the future: co-authors can often not act as your reference letter writers.
