My residence at the GESIS institute in Cologne

The next four months I will live in Cologne and write my bachelor thesis at GESIS. Why that and what is this? Here are the answers.

GESIS Köln by Stefan Kasberger (CC BY 3.0 AT)

So, here I’m, living since two weeks in Cologne. Whenever I told friends, that I will go for my bachelor thesis to another country, most people asked me “Why that?”, cause it’s not that usual. So, here my answers:

1. My advisor is Markus Strohmaier (@mstrohm), the scientific director of the Computational Social Science department and lead of the Data Science team here. He is a well reputated and active researcher in the field of data science with focus on social questions and an interdiscplinary approach. Our connection goes back to some talks about Data Science, especially Network Science back in 2012, and his drive to solve problems and focus on research impressed me from the beginning – unfortunately that is something rare in Austria. So, when he surprisingly asked me if I want to come to Cologne for my bachelor thesis, the answer was quite easy.

2. The GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences is the largest infrastructure institution for the Social Sciences in Germany. It is based in the heart of Cologne, not far away from the Kölner Dom and the main train station, something very pleasant. I have joined there the Data Science team, where problems at the intersection of Computer Science and Sociology are being adressed. I’m looking forward to learn a lot from the many professionals here and hopefully it gives me the opportunity to get deeper insights into how research is done and organized in 2014.

3. Cologne always had a very good reputation: liberal, open and very hospitable. So again, I took the opportunity to live in a city outside Austria, and my amazing experiences with city life and german culture the last semester in Berlin made the decision quite easy.

So, seems like all of the more abstract requirements stated in my first post are fullfilled. So let the games begin!