August 17-21, 2026

USI, Lugano (In presence)

Full Program & Registration: https://www.usi.ch/it/formazione/summer-winter-school/ssm

Patricia Prieto-Blanco and Katharina Lobinger from ECREA Visual Cultures section will be co-leading a week-long intensive workshop on Visual Data and Visual Methods in Social Sciences at the Università della Svizzera italiana. This workshop is part of the 30th edition of the Summer School in Social Sciences Methods—one of the largest methods schools in Europe! If you want to expand your knowledge (and practice) of visual research methods, consider joining our workshop :).

We have designed this course to be deeply hands-on. It isn’t just about looking at images; it’s about understanding how visuals can be used for research. We’ll be moving from the "why" to the "how," covering:

• Experimenting with visual ethnography, the visual essay, and photo elicitation.
  
• How to engage respondents as partners through drawing-based exercises and card sorting.
  
• Mastering both qualitative and quantitative content analysis to tackle the massive amounts of visual data in our digital world.
  
• We will spend significant time on the feminist ethos in research—discussing power, reflexivity, and the ethics of embodiment.
  

What makes this Summer School special is the modality. We are meeting in presence in beautiful Lugano. This allows us to engage in real-time experimentation, producing and analysing visual data together in an environment that encourages critical reflection and creative growth.

Whether you are just starting your PhD or looking to add a visual dimension to your existing research projects, Katharina and I look forward to welcoming you to the USI campus! If you are a supervisor, I would appreciate you sharing it with doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in your team.