Nils B. Weidmann

I am Professor of Political Science and head of the "Communication, Networks and Contention" Research Group. Previously, I held research fellowships at the Centre for the Study of Civil War, Peace Research Institute Oslo (2011-12), the Jackson Institute, Yale University (2010-11), and the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University (2009-10). I received a M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Freiburg (Germany) in 2003, a M.A. in Comparative and International Studies from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2008, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from ETH Zurich in 2009.

CV

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Replication data

Available as supplementary material along with the respective journal article, or in my DataVerse.

Office hours

Please sign up electronically via ILIAS. A University of Konstanz account is required.

Letters of recommendation

I am happy to write letters of recommendation for students that (i) have successfully participated in at least one of my courses with very good results (final grade >= 1.7), and (ii) have produced a single-authored piece of written work, such as a research paper. I need at least three weeks prior notice before the letter is due. All letters will be confidential in the sense that they will only be mailed to the respective institution/organization the student is applying to.

Supervision of BA/MA theses

If you are interested in completing your Bachelor or Master thesis in our research area, you can do so in one of two ways:

  1. working on a topic of your choice, or
  2. choosing a topic offered in one of the research projects in our group.  

In both cases, you should have completed the necessary coursework related to this project (substantive and methodological courses). As part of our research, you review the literature, develop theory and research design, and carry out the research. For topics offered by us, we usually aim for a co-authored publication once your thesis has been completed. 

The list of potential topics will be presented each semester in the first session of the research colloquium (see ZEUS). For these topics, we will only select students that possess the necessary skill set to carry out the research.  

Proposal
Before you officially register the thesis, you need to complete (in consultation with your advisor) a proposal of 3-5 pages that describes (i) the research question, (ii) the relevant literature, and (iii) the methodological approach you intend to follow. 

Research colloquium
If you conduct your thesis work in our group, you participate in our weekly colloquium, where we present and discuss our current research projects. In this colloquium, you will also present your work, and comment on research presented by others.