2023 CSST Summer Research Institute (Boulder)

Call for Participation in the
2023 CSST Summer Research Institute

Hosted by the Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST)

When:                        26–30 June 2023
Where:                      YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, CO
Organizers:              Amy Voida & Stephen Voida
Deadline:                Apply by 20 March, notifications by mid-April.
Submission link:     https://forms.gle/pLFXsBbr3g77Mo7K9

The CSST Summer Research Institute supports emerging scholars in sociotechnical systems research, including the following:

  • Doctoral students expected to graduate by the end of December 2024
  • Post-doctoral scholars (or any other position en route to faculty or industrial research positions)
  • Those in their first two years as research-oriented university faculty (start date on or after Aug 2021)
  • Those in their first two years as an industry researcher (and focused on publishing in peer-reviewed literature) (start date on or after Aug 2021)

In order to accommodate the largest possible number of participants from across the sociotechnical research community, individuals who have previously attended a CSST Summer Research Institute are ineligible to apply.

The Summer Research Institute has been an activity of the Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems Research (CSST) since 2008. Topics and problem domains of focus in socio-technical systems research include (but are not limited to): personal health and well-being; eScience, and citizen science; co-production, open source/innovation, and new forms of work; cultural heritage and information access; social informatics; civic hacking, engagement and government; human-robot interaction; disaster response; cybersecurity, surveillance and privacy; education and learning; information systems; platforms. This is a wide area of coverage, so if your interests are in people/organizations/society together with tech/systems/data and you are (or hope to be) part of intellectual communities such as CSCW, HCI, social computing, organization studies, information visualization, social informatics, sociology, information systems, social media and society, medical informatics, computer science, ICT for development, education, learning science, journalism, and political science, then you fit well with this program and you should apply! And if we’ve missed your topic/community, please apply and tell us about it!

This year, we are delighted to have the following outstanding cohort of scholars joining us as mentors:

  • Rosa Arriaga (Georgia Institute of Technology)
  • Matt Bietz (University of California, Irvine)
  • Elizabeth Gerber (Northwestern University)
  • Erik Johnston (Arizona State University)
  • David McDonald (University of Washington)
  • Dan Russell (Stanford University / Xoogler / Free Range Researcher)
  • Bryan Semaan (University of Colorado Boulder)
  • Jaime Snyder (University of Washington)
  • Michael Twidale (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Participants will engage in peer networking, roundtable discussion of individual and group research interests, and skill-building tutorials to help participants identify substantive ways that the theories, approaches, and tools within the larger community can advance their work with the design and study of sociotechnical systems.

Lodging, meals, and other onsite costs will be covered for all Summer Research Institute participants and we expect to be able to reimburse up to $500 of travel expenses for participants. Accessible lodging is available. The YMCA also offers a day camp for kids aged 3–17, and we have requested funding to help offset childcare costs for participants. We have chosen this year’s venue in order to support the participation of the broadest possible demographic of sociotechnical scholars; please feel free to reach out and let us know what we can do to ensure that you are able to participate in this year’s event. 

Thanks to the Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, ACM SIGCHI, and the University of Colorado Boulder Research and Innovation Office for their support of this year’s Summer Institute.

Applying to the CSST 2023 Summer Institute

To apply, upload a SINGLE PDF FILE, containing the following:

  • Sociotechnical Research Statement: 500-word single-spaced response to the question: “How does/will your work advance our ability to understand or design sociotechnical systems?” Include three to four relevant citations to situate your work within the larger research community. These may be a mix of your own publications or those that inspire your work.
  • Mentoring Statement: Please briefly tell us about what kind of mentoring you would find most beneficial for where you are in your career, including: (1) What characteristics of a mentor you would ideally like to be paired with, which may include characteristics of their job experience, their disciplinary or research background, other personal experiences, or demographics and (2) What kind of session content or skill development would you find most interesting or helpful.
  • CV 

Students, please ask your advisor to address the following points in a signed PDF letter, and to email it to: amy.voida@colorado.edu, with the subject line: “CSST Letter for <Name>”. Their letter should contain the following information:

  • Relevance of applicant’s work to the CSST community (one or two paragraphs)
  • Stage of applicant’s work (e.g., quals completed, proposal defended, etc.)
  • A date by which the advisor is confident the dissertation will be completed

The CSST Summer Institute Advisory Group will review applications shortly thereafter, using the following criteria:

  • Clear articulation of the hoped-for contribution to theoretical analysis and theory-building, practice, and/or design of sociotechnical systems;
  • Likelihood of Summer Research Institute participation providing significant practical benefit for the individual; and
  • Contribution to a balanced and diverse group of participants.

We anticipate inviting approximately 30 participants and we expect to extend invitations by mid-April.

For more information about the Summer Research Institute, contact Amy Voida and Stephen Voida {amy.voida, svoida}@colorado.edu. For information about the broader community of researchers interested in the design and study of sociotechnical systems, see: https://www.sociotech.net.