The researchers at the Institute for Analytical Sociology (IAS) at Link枚ping University conduct advanced, interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research on important social issues. The institute was founded in 2014 by Peter Hedstr枚m, professor of analytical sociology.
鈥淭hese are exciting times to be a social scientist,鈥� says Peter Hedstr枚m. 鈥淚ncreased availability of digital data and rapid advances in methods for analysing so-called big data have laid the foundation for the emergence of the field of computational social science.鈥�
Maria Brand茅n is a professor and director of the Institute for Analytical Sociology. Her research deals with different types of segregation and how it affects people鈥檚 lives:
鈥淏y studying what happens at the individual level, we can understand why things turn out the way they do at societal level. Questions about segregation are a good example of what analytical sociology can be used for. How do schools, cities and workplaces become segregated and what are the consequences of this?鈥�
The vision is for the institute to grow through strategic recruitments and in the foreseeable future become a world-leading centre for computational social science.
鈥淭his is where LiU鈥檚 social sciences can really make a difference, in the borderland with computer science,鈥� says Peter Hedstr枚m.
