Premiere of the DGNet Method School at Thurnau Castle

Social Network Analysis, as a key method in the social sciences for capturing, describing and explaining social relationships, has long found its way into disciplines such as psychology, economics and history. At the same time, outside its core fields of sociology, politics and education, there is a lack of solid introductions and practice-oriented training opportunities. Moreover, during the coronavirus pandemic, successful summer school formats for Social Network Analysis largely fell dormant. Since 2023, DGNet has therefore been working to establish its own offering. A cross-university organising committee – Heike Krüger (Aachen), Norbert Luttenberger (Kiel), Melanie Nagel (Tübingen) and Daniel Reupke (Bayreuth) – has been driving the project forward since last autumn. Reupke suggested Thurnau Castle, home to the fimt, as the venue.

With its secluded atmosphere, Thurnau Castle provided ideal conditions for focused work and intensive exchange. The method school preceded the 10th DGNet Congress in Bayreuth. Conferences and meetings of DGNet working groups had already been held in the Wagner city in 2019 and 2021, as the research field enjoys a high profile in Bayreuth: the method is applied in projects in education, music theatre studies and, more recently, nutritional sciences.

35 participants, six lecturers, 30 hours of programme

A total of 35 early-career researchers from 24 institutions and 20 disciplines took part. Renowned experts in network analysis – including Markus Gamper (Cologne), Melanie Nagel (Tübingen), Andreas Herz (Munich), Heike Krüger (Aachen), Norbert Luttenberger (Kiel) and Steffen Triebel (Aarhus) – offered introductions and workshops on topics such as qualitative methods, data extraction from texts, and RSiena, a current statistical software for simulating highly dynamic actor networks. The programme was rounded off by a conference dinner, a castle tour, a church concert and a closing keynote by DGNet Chair Christian Stegbauer (Frankfurt/Main). Local organisation was handled by Daniel Reupke.

Praise from all sides – and a look ahead

Feedback was extremely positive. Participants praised “the excellent organisation at this impressive venue”, highlighted the high practical relevance of the workshops and already recommended Thurnau for future events. One participant even drew a comparison with Berlin’s Methods Week, which attracts 300 attendees, and still attested that the DGNet Method School delivered greater substantive impact, more personal exchange and more intensive networking. Consequently, the organisers plan to hold the method school again at the same venue in autumn 2026 – registrations are already coming in.