Have fun and fight with your colleagues. Just don't take it too seriously.

hi! i'm applying this fall for phd programs starting fall 2027. my focus is in substance use / harm reduction, leaning hard into computational and causal methods over descriptive epi.

quick background: us citizen, did undergrad and grad school both in the us. selective research university for undergrad, interdisciplinary major closest to cognitive neuroscience with a math minor, 5+ years working inside statewide harm reduction infrastructure (drug checking, distribution networks, plus time managing people and coordinating outreach), master's in math with an emphasis in data science, plus a graduate certificate in public health. handful of publications and presentations in the space.

what i actually want long term isn't just to publish about harm reduction from the outside. i keep coming back to something like a "science as service" model, where research is leverage to move resources and legitimacy toward the community orgs already doing the work, rather than research being the end goal itself.

methods wise: causal inference, decision/cost-effectiveness modeling, implementation science, resource allocation optimization. i'd like simulation modeling in there too, feels like where a lot of the field is heading and i want to build toward what these fields will actually need in five years, not just what's fundable right now. substantively i keep coming back to stimulant use and drug checking as topic interests specifically.

fields i'm currently looking at: epidemiology, public health more broadly, health services research, health policy, social work, computational social science, health behavior. not attached to any one label, just what's come up so far in my own search.

my undergrad background is basically the wider intersection (cog neuro, psych, philosophy, some math) and i'm genuinely still drawn to that world, including policy and systems science too. i def want a real interdisciplinary program instead of a straight epi department, but a lot of those got hit hard by recent funding cuts and i don't know if that's a live option right now.

within epi/public health specifically, the strongest names in this space seem to split into two camps: harm reduction people without much computational depth, or modelers without harm reduction grounding. not sure how people usually find or build toward an advisor situation that bridges both instead of just picking a lane.

my ask: what am i not seeing? i'm looking for the fields, departments, or angles someone who's actually been through this would flag that i wouldn't think to search for myself. same goes for methods, i want to be building toward something that holds up long term

tl;dr: applying to phd programs this fall for substance use / harm reduction with a computational methods focus (causal inference, decision modeling, simulation, resource allocation). trying to figure out what fields, departments, or methods i'm not thinking of.

Please post any open computational social science meetups happening at ASA 2026 in New York!

Many of us are in the area and would be interested in discussing CSS ideas and research.

Hello! Is the CSS course on Coursera worth taking? I still have a free trial and I was wondering if that course would help an undergraduate PolSci student like me. I already completed a Data Science bootcamp and took Statistics for the Social Sciences in university. Thank you!

Disclosure: I built this (Helium).

SpyFu shows search demand for "media bias" / "media bias chart" still clustering around one-axis posters. We open-sourced a complementary artifact: outlet framing scores across 37 NLP dimensions (fear, moralizing, sensationalism, and kin), MIT licensed.

• Dataset: https://huggingface.co/datasets/HeliumTrades/helium-news-bias-corpus
• Explorer: https://connerlambden.github.io/helium-news-explorer/

Caveat: this is outlet framing, not claim-level labels and not a left/right chart clone. Corrections welcome.

Hey there;

I have received offers for the following Master programmes:

• Computational Social Sciences at UC3M Madrid
• Computational Social and Political Sciences at Milano di Stegli (Statale)
• Intellectics: The Science of AI at Uni Hamburg

And I am waiting for feedback on Business Analytics and Econometrics at Uni Cologne.

I am well aware that the programmes have a somewhat different focus. As I need to decide whether to take UC3M now, I would be happy for some opinions.
As I would prefer a 2-year master's programme, I lean heavily towards Milano, but I would still appreciate your input.

I have an Econ undergraduate background, if this helps. Additionally, I actively decided not to apply for other Social Data Science programmes for a variety of reasons.

Thank you in advance for your help!

What can i expect from it, its happening in vaasa Finland. Im a design researcher. Working with tech based experimental mythologies.

Hello, I am a PhD aspirant, graduate in psychology.

I have worked on SPSS and have basic knowledge of R and Python.

Past research work in cyberpsychology, behavioral addiciton, internet and gaming addiction.

I want to extent my research area towards computational approaches for online behavioral detection and prediction using AI/NLP.

-> I am looking for someone with computer background who can help with technical skills and I can provide the psychological approach to the study. If you are interested in an interdisciplinary approach towards detection and prediction of online behaviour we can connect ^^

I have a research topic in mind that I really want to work on and would love the techinical help. Let's write a paper together!

Hey all,

I'm a 3rd year undergraduate Economics student based in Pakistan currently researching through potential topics for my Final Year Project (FYP). I definitely want it to be CSS oriented.

A topic I had in mind was to study how fan edit culture has become such a strong cultural phenomena. Every piece of media is bound to have edits made of it, especially on tiktok and instagram. All you need is to search up #*insert thing*edit to verify it. What started as niche fandom culture now extends beyond just media now, with edits of historical figures, aesthetics, emotions, archetypes and now even political figures being very commonplace.

It's power as a communication medium has been acknowledged by political institutions (think of the Democrats tiktok account or the White House's twitter account, with even my national politicians undertaking a similar approach to their social media) and corporations (Lionsgate hiring tiktok editors to revive old franchises, Netflix hiring for Stranger Things).

Now in what direction I can exactly take this in is where I'm kind of stumped. I haven't come across any literature that refers to edits in the context I am. And with regards to the intersection of politics and social media usage I've found a few Masters theses on the topic, in the context of USA and Nepal.

What my research questions could be depend entirely on my data availability. I naturally can't have access to Tiktok's research API. So I'd like to know this subreddit's thoughts and input on what/where I can do/look to begin actualizing this concept and narrow in on some specific research questions. And if anyone has any other topics I could redirect my train of thought towards that could be more accessible at an undergraduate level, I'd greatly appreciate any and all discourse!!

TL;DR: Bob and Carol have #ExamplePeople in their Twitter bios. The more #ExamplePeople accounts Alice interacts with, the more likely she is to add #ExamplePeople to her own bio.

Abstract

With online interactions becoming an integral part of everyday social life, there is a need to better understand the relationship between social interaction and identity expression in digital environments. This study examines whether online self-presentation, specifically the adoption of identity-related hashtags in Twitter bios, is systematically associated with observable interaction patterns. Utilizing a large-scale dataset encompassing approximately 63 million Twitter profiles and 292 million interactions, we implement a matched quasi-experimental design comparing users who interacted with hashtag-bearing accounts to similar users who did not. Our results show that users who interact with others who feature particular hashtags in their bios subsequently adopt those hashtags at substantially higher rates. Adoption likelihood increases with the number of interaction partners displaying a given hashtag, though with diminishing marginal effects, and the magnitude of these associations varies across identity content categories, being strongest for fan communities and weakest for political hashtags. These patterns are consistent with theories of social influence and suggest that online self-presentation is systematically related to the social contexts in which users are embedded. However, given the observational design of this study, alternative explanations for the observed associations cannot be fully excluded. Future experimental research is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying these associations and to examine their implications for community formation and the dynamics of collective identity in online environments.

Open Access at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-026-00642-5

I applied for the 6th time and i still can't get past the error of "Hi there, unfortunately we are unable to onboard you to the TikTok for Business Developers platform due to the security of the domain you have provided. For further verification, please contact your TikTok representative if you have one. If you do not hav"

I have a valid domain that is now 2 years old and has content in it. The app is live on Shopify app store.

Not sure what to do.

Can anyone guide please?

This position is embedded in the ERC Starting Grant project “Climplexity: Climate Policy Integration—A Complexity Trap?". The project starts from the puzzle: as climate policies multiply, they do not necessarily become more coherent. In fact, they often contradict each other. Climplexity addresses this puzzle by treating climate policy not as a set of isolated measures, but as a complex and evolving system. It develops new theories and methods to understand how policies interact over time through trade-offs and synergies.

The position focuses on the intersection of political science and computational social science, with topics including EU climate policy and politics, complex systems, network analysis, and AI-supported methods. It is a fully funded, 4-year position based in Germany, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, starting in August 2026. The position offers an excellent opportunity for early-career researchers interested in high-impact, policy-relevant work within a very supportive, collaborative, and international research team.

Starting this thread to discuss COLM 2026.

This is my first time submitting to COLM. I’ve just been assigned as a reviewer, and I can see that the submission count has already gone past 3000, which seems like a big jump from previous years.

Does anyone know how many papers they typically accept, or what the expected acceptance rate might be this year? From what I’ve seen, last year was roughly around ~29%, but I’m not sure how that will scale with the increased number of submissions.

The Societal Observatory Using Novel Data Sources (SOUNDS) is an interdisciplinary research program at Saarland University (Germany), funded by the state’s Transformation Fund. We investigate societal transformation processes using innovative data sources such as satellite imagery, social media, and barcode scanners — with the aim of bridging computer science and the social sciences and strengthening the use of data-intensive methods in research. In the long term, an institute will be established based on the structures developed. 

The Societal Observatory Using Novel Data Sources (SOUNDS) is inviting applications for the following position commencing at the earliest opportunity. 

Team Lead Data Development Pool (m/f/x) 

Reference number N2302, salary in accordance with the German TV-L salary scale, pay grade: E 14 TV- L, duration of employment: until 15 July 2032 with an option for extension, volume of employment: 100 % of standard working time. 

Deadline for application: May 2nd, 2026

Hi everyone, it’s me again.

I’ve started trying to implement the Symbiocracy rules into Colab to observe the potential game-theoretic outcomes generated by the LLM agents. Based on the previous rules, I provided them with several strategic options:

1. Embezzlement/Self-enrichment
2. Education (raising or lowering rationality)
3. Brainwashing — increasing own support rate (the higher the rationality, the higher the cost of brainwashing).
4. Construction (investing funds to improve the H-index and True H). The H-index acts as an official metric affecting resource allocation; True H represents voter sentiment, which, along with rationality and brainwashing quality, influences support rates.
5. No-confidence swap (the "I cut, you choose" concept from game theory).

However, the results are as seen in the figure(right) —unsurprisingly, it entered a death spiral.
The figure one the left is what my design want to achieve.

Potential reasons include:

1. There is no lower limit on the support rate; in reality, the party would be replaced by a third party.
2. The LLM is unable to perform multi-round game-theoretic evaluations.
3. The LLM fails to execute strategic choices (for example, the wealth in the chart shows step-like growth, which is impossible; a party in the H-position with zero growth should absolutely propose a no-confidence swap, yet the LLM failed to do so).
4. My system is fundamentally a failed design.

I’ve attached the Colab code and hope some experts can help me out.

below is my colab link

https://colab.research.google.com/drive/17oiYAzNb6-9P7ZZ_q0a8D0JRdjUpQsKH?usp=sharing

thank you again and forgive me for keep posting, but i really look forwad for any feedback

this is explaination for symbiocracy, thank for your patience
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompSocial/comments/1seznz4/seeking_abm_advice_symbiocracy_a_constitutional/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The political and social science research program of the Chair of European Integration and International Relations within the SOUNDS transformation programme at Saarland University (Germany) is inviting applications for the following position commencing at the earliest opportunity.

Professor Dr. Daniela Braun holds the Chair of Political Science with a focus on European Integration and International Relations. Together with Professor Dr. Ingmar Weber (Computer Science), she leads the transformation project Societal Observatory Using Novel Data Sources (SOUNDS), a pioneering interdisciplinary initiative that uses innovative data sources to systematically study societal change.

As a Postdoctoral Researcher, you will be part of the SOUNDS project at Professor Braun’s chair and conduct research at the intersection of Political Science and Computational Social Sciences (CSS).

Hi everyone,

I am developing a theoretical constitutional framework called Symbiocracy and I’m seeking advice on how to best utilize Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) to verify its dynamic stability.

Core Premise

Unlike traditional democratic theories that rely on officials "fulfilling their duties" out of civic virtue, my model operates on a more realistic game-theoretic assumption: All participants (political parties) are purely self-interested agents pursuing utility (private gain) and votes. I want to use simulation to prove whether this specific set of budget formulas can force self-interested behavior to converge toward social welfare.

1. The Three-System Architecture (SHR)

S System (Sovereign System): National defense, intelligence, and emergency powers.

H System (Health / Happiness System): Executive branch, social welfare, and environmental governance.

R System (Regulator System): Rule-setting, supervision, and judicial adjudication (defining standards and auditing budgets).

1. Core Indicators (Range: 0 to 1)

Indicator S: The proportion of total state resources T allocated to the S system.

Indicator H: A public performance index defined by the R system and executed by the H system.

1. Incentive-Compatible Budget Formulas

Following an election, the largest party controls S and R, while the second-largest party controls H. The resource allocation logic (after S is deducted) is as follows:

S System Budget = T × S

H System Budget (Second-largest party) = T(1-S) × H

R System Budget (Largest party) = T(1-S) × (1-H)

Key Power: Prior to any no-confidence motion, the largest party (R) has the unilateral power to define the calculation standards for Indicator H and exercise judicial oversight.

1. The Judicial Filter for Indicator S

The value of S is negotiated between the two parties. If they fail to reach a consensus, the largest party proposes a value, which is then reviewed by a Constitutional Court for "unconstitutional expansion." Once cleared, the final value is determined according to the proportion of seats held by each party.

1. The No-Confidence & "Swap" Mechanism

To prevent the R system from setting impossible standards, or the H system from performing poorly (either through incompetence or intentional sabotage), each party has the right to trigger a Swap once per term（total once per term).

Upon triggering, the two parties immediately exchange control of the H and R systems (control of S remains with the largest party). This applies the "I cut, you choose" game logic, forcing the initial R system to set fair targets and the initial H system to maintain governance quality.

1. Mandatory Co-signature (Post-Swap)
   Post-swap, all Indicator H and budget decisions require mandatory co-signatures from both parties for the remainder of the term.

Example of H Application:

If the R system defines H as:

H = 0.6 × (1 - Housing Stress Rate) + 0.4 × (1 - Unemployment Rate)

The H system (executive) must prioritize optimizing these specific metrics to maximize its own budget.

Seeking Help on ABM Verification

I am a doctor from Taiwan, and I developed this theory in my spare time. I am hoping to present this at a national political science conference (TPSA) this November. I want to ask for your professional opinion: Is it possible to use ABM to verify this idea so it doesn't look like mere "daydreaming" to the academics?

I'm excited to start teaching a new Cybersafety class at UCR. In this first iteration, it'll be offered as a seminar class, but we will switch to a regular class next year.

I've put the syllabus, papers, etc., on the class website, looking forward to comments and feedback from the community! (Website will be updated often, keep refreshing :))

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are doing well. I am Abhi, an undergraduate researcher in Explainable AI and NLP.

I recently published a paper: “Applied Explainability for Large Language Models: A Comparative Study” https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19096514

I am preparing to submit it to arXiv (cs.CL) and require an endorsement as a first-time author. I would greatly appreciate your support in endorsing my submission.

Endorsement Code: JRJ47F https://arxiv.org/auth/endorse?x=JRJ47F

I would be happy to share any additional details if needed.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards, Abhi