Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · 21d

In this new paper with @fisherdanar.bsky.social in Politics and Governance, we distinguish intrinsic and instrumental polarisation and analyse polarisation curves and phases in US climate politics. We also present new methods for discourse networks. doi.org/10.17645/pag... @cogitatiopag.bsky.social

Polarisation curve for the US Congress between 2011 and 2016, peaking around the release of the Clean Power Plan in the summer of 2015.

2 6

Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · 22d

📢My article with @leifeld.bsky.social, "Up and Down With… Polarisation? Intrinsic and Instrumental Polarisation Dynamics in US Climate Policy Debates" is OUT at Politics & Governance.
Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.17645/pag...

3 11

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jul 31

#Digital #Humanities #postdoc position at Kent, in the School of Computing, as part of the £2.9m ARISE project. Closing date: 7 August 2025. Full info: jobs.kent.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx.... It's a 2.5yr position. #DigitalHumanities #AcJobs #AcademicJobs #CompSky #CS #compsci #CoastalCommunities #HCI

jobs.kent.ac.uk

2

Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis @mitchellsna.bsky.social · Jun 30

Mitchell Centre M Summer School on Network Analysis for Social Sciences here at Manchester in September 2025. Register until 14 July here: www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/mitchell-cen.... We have introductory, R-based, and statistical network analysis courses. #sna #NetworkAnalysis #socsky

4 6

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jun 30

Registration link: www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/mitchell-cen...

M Summer - School of Social Sciences - The University of Manchester

www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jun 30

Mitchell Centre Summer School on social network analysis: registration deadline extended until 14 July 2025. We have both basic and advanced courses. #sna #polisky #NetworkAnalysis #SummerSchool #netsci @socialstats.bsky.social @mitchellsna.bsky.social

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jun 3

More network analysis training available for external participants here at the Mitchell Centre, University of Manchester. In-person courses in Manchester 15-26 September 2025; registration deadline 30 June. www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/mitchell-cen... #socialscience #sna @uomsoss.bsky.social

1 2 2

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jun 27

#Postdoc senior research fellow opportunity in community engagement research on coastal community resilience at the University of East Anglia in our ARISE project. Application deadline next Monday! Job ad: vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15.... Project homepage: easternarc.ac.uk/arise/.

Senior Research Associate (RA2321) in University of East Anglia | UEA

View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate (RA2321) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science, in collaboration with Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Ar...

vacancies.uea.ac.uk

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jun 9

New article published: "A Three‐Stage Model of the Maturation of Nascent #Policy #Subsystems toward Stable #Advocacy Coalitions, with Evidence From the UK's Response to #COVID‐19", with Kristijan Garic in the Policy Studies Journal: doi.org/10.1111/psj.... #SNA #Discourse #ACF @psjeditor.bsky.social

Three stages with ideal-type network structures. The first stage shows two separate clusters of solution-oriented actors and actors with vested interests. The second stage shows a disaggregation into multiple clusters of each kind. The third stage shows emerging advocacy coalitions as clusters cutting across the two types of actors.

A discourse network diagram with nodes and edges, corresponding to the first stage of the theory, with several clusters.

A discourse network diagram with nodes and edges, corresponding to the second stage of the theory, with more clusters than before, in COVID-19 policy making in the UK.

2 6

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jun 3

More network analysis training available for external participants here at the Mitchell Centre, University of Manchester. In-person courses in Manchester 15-26 September 2025; registration deadline 30 June. www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/mitchell-cen... #socialscience #sna @uomsoss.bsky.social

1 2

MethodsNET @methodsnet.bsky.social · May 8

📢 Last 5 DAYS to level up your methods skills!
Register for the MethodsNET Summer School at CEU @weareceu.bsky.social in Vienna!
Featured course: "Inferential Network Analysis" with Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social
Boost your skills in ERGM, QAP & network modeling!

Register here: bit.ly/4gLbv9V

2 2

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · May 3

"Inferential Network Analysis" @methodsnet.bsky.social Summer School in Vienna is scheduled for 14-18 July. Details: methodsnet.org/course/d02-0.... Will cover ERGM, TERGM, REM, LSM, AMEN, QAP, SAOM, LOLOG, NAM; with stat theory, examples, R labs, student presentations. Registration deadline: 13 May

Six simulated networks with different coefficients as an illustration.

Boxplots of distributions of four network statistics in simulated networks versus red curves showing the distributions for the observed network, as an illustration of goodness-of-fit assessment.

An empirical co-authorship network as an illustration.

3 5

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Apr 1

This ad is still open and closes on 18/4. I'd love to see some exciting work in environmental policy and collaborative governance (or other eligible topics). This is fully funded with stipend and fees covered, a great opportunity. #PublicPolicy #Polisky #PolicyProcess #FindAPhD #envpol #PhD

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Feb 4

Funded #MSc and #PhD #studentship in our #ARISE project at @universityofessex.bsky.social: You are interested in the #Resilience of #CoastalCommunities and #EnvironmentalPolicy, belong to an underrepresented minority, and are a UK resident? www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLM976/p... #jobs #governance #SNA

PhD Studentship: Building Coastal Resilience in Communities - A Combined Governance and Natural Science Approach at University of Essex

Explore a PhD Studentship: Building Coastal Resilience in Communities - A Combined Governance and Natural Science Approach. Apply today and discover more PhD opportunities at jobs.ac.uk.

www.jobs.ac.uk

2

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 31

Tagging @aristeakoukiadaki.bsky.social from Law

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 29

I am one of the supervisors. The supervisors are from law, soc stats, comp sci. Get in touch if you have questions. The September starting date should make current master's students eligible to apply, but we may have flexibility around the exact start. Please help spread the word by reposting.

1 1

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 29

Deadline for fully funded PhD at Manchester extended to 14/4. Start date 1 Sep 2025. Pls repost. The degree can be in any relevant discipline incl soc sci, soc stats, law, comp sci. The project can focus more on discourse #NetworkAnalysis or more on #TextAnalysis, tbd. #datascience #NetworkScience

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Jan 7

Funded PhD opportunity (incl. DNA) in "Computational Legal Analysis - Classifying and Understanding Remedies in Comparative Labour Law". Start Sep 2025. University of Manchester @official-uom.bsky.social. www.findaphd.com/phds/project... #PhD #jobs #NLP #TextAnalysis #ComputationalSocialScience #CSS

Computational Legal Analysis - Classifying and Understanding Remedies in Comparative Labour Law at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Computational Legal Analysis - Classifying and Understanding Remedies in Comparative Labour Law at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com

1 3 1

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 29

FYI: Lecturer = assistant professor in the UK. Tagging people to spread the word: @fisherdanar.bsky.social @fpvantaggiato.bsky.social @tedhchen.com @fgenovese.bsky.social @envpolicycenter.bsky.social @paulmwagner.bsky.social @petrocelik.bsky.social @marioangst.bsky.social @kariningold.bsky.social

2

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 26

Quick, the early bird deadline ends tonight! You can still register until the end of April or so, but it will be slightly more expensive.

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Feb 5

Early-bird registration for my Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) course open now until 11 March. Register here: methodsnet.org/course/d01-0... #PublicPolicy #PublicAdministration #Discourse #PolicyProcess #PolicyLearning #SNA #Polisky

1

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 26

Quick, the early bird deadline ends tonight!

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Feb 7

Early-bird registration for my Inferential Network Analysis course open now until 11 March. Register at methodsnet.org/course/d02-0.... #SNA #ERGM #NetworkAnalysis #NetworkScience #ComplexSystems #Polisky #LatentSpace #NetworkFormation #PolicyNetworks #ResearchMethods #statnet #CSS #RStats #methods

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 26

After the US denied entry to a French academic en route to a conference recently (and some other cases of detained German citizens), I have decided not to attend US conferences until further notice. It's too much hassle and money to risk being detained. Sorry. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found

France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched

www.theguardian.com

2

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 19

Jürgen Lerner (University of Konstanz) presenting on relational hyperevent models applied to citation and co-authorship networks in our Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis at the University of Manchester. Great stuff! @mitchellsna.bsky.social #networks #SNA #NetworkScience #NetworkAnalysis

1 4

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 11

We discuss endogenous and exogenous drivers of change in discourse networks and present a method for finding structurally similar phases and the transition points between them. Implementation available in the rDNA R package accompanying the Discourse Network Analyzer software: github.com/leifeld/dna

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 11

New article published: "When does discursive change happen? Detecting phase transitions in discourse networks of sustainability transitions" with Kimberley Vandenhole and Kristijan Garic in Energy Research & Social Science: doi.org/10.1016/j.er.... #SNA #STS #SustainabilityTransitions #discourse

Three types of discourse networks: Affiliation network, actor network, and concept network.

Incrementally changing networks along temporally overlapping moving time windows.

Multidimensional scaling (temporal embedding) of the structural trajectory of the discourse network, heatmap, state dynamics, and cluster silhouette plot for the low-emission zone discourse in Ghent.

Actor networks corresponding to the six identified phases in the empirical case study.

1 2 8

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Mar 5

My favourite conference. Hope to see many of you there. #SNA #Polisky #NetworkScience #NetworkAnalysis #Polisci #CSS

Political Networks @politicalnetworks.bsky.social · Mar 4

Join us for the 2025 Political Networks & Computational Social Science Conference (sites.google.com/view/confpol...), Aug 11-14 at Harvard & Northeastern, with Duncan Watts delivering the keynote. Workshops: Aug 11-12; panels: Aug 13-14. Submit by March 28:

forms.gle

1 2

Political Networks @politicalnetworks.bsky.social · Mar 4

Join us for the 2025 Political Networks & Computational Social Science Conference (sites.google.com/view/confpol...), Aug 11-14 at Harvard & Northeastern, with Duncan Watts delivering the keynote. Workshops: Aug 11-12; panels: Aug 13-14. Submit by March 28:

forms.gle

1 7 15

Research & Politics @respol.bsky.social · Feb 22

How do political actors adjust their messaging to different communication arenas? This paper finds ideological communication on Twitter is most left-leaning, Congressional testimony is most right-leaning & surveys are in the middle, enhancing our understanding of systematic bias in data sources.

Ground-truthing political elites in the public sphere: Measuring the arena effects of elite opinion - Tim Henrichsen, Philip Leifeld, Lorien Jasny, Iain Weaver, Dana R. Fisher, 2025

Political elites express their ideological positions on contentious issues across various arenas in the public sphere. Social science research often relies on d...

doi.org

1 1 3

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Feb 21

I teach on this MSc programme. You can learn inferential network analysis and agent-based modelling from me there.

Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis @mitchellsna.bsky.social · Feb 20

Recruitment for the 2025 Msc in Social Network Analysis is now open! A unique opportunity to train in theories, methods and applications of SNA, with new modules in crime and networks and Complex Social Systems and Simulation. Please help disseminating.
www.manchester.ac.uk/study/master...

MSc Social Network Analysis - course details (2025 entry) | The University of Manchester

Research. Teaching and learning. Social responsibility. Discover more about The University of Manchester here.

www.manchester.ac.uk

2

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Feb 21

Henrichsen, Tim, Philip Leifeld, Lorien Jasny, Iain Weaver and Dana R. Fisher (@fisherdanar.bsky.social): Ground-Truthing Political Elites in the Public Sphere: Measuring the Arena Effects of Elite Opinion. Research & Politics.

Philip Leifeld @leifeld.bsky.social · Feb 21

Arena effects in climate politics: We fit an item response model to US climate elites with the same items/beliefs across 3 data sources/arenas and examine how the arena you speak in moves your ideological position to left or right doi.org/10.1177/2053... #PoliSky #ideology #polbehavior #publicpolicy

Plot with seven rows and four columns of panels. Each panel shows one elite actor and their estimated ideological position and 95 per cent credible interval using three horizontal bars, one for Twitter, one for Congressional Testimony, and one for survey data.

1 3 5

Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · Feb 21

🎉It's been a long time coming but our new paper on ground-truthing elite perspectives in the public sphere is finally published! We explain why relying on only one source to understand political perspectives on climate is problematic. Read the paper here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

2 6 25

Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis @mitchellsna.bsky.social · Feb 20

Recruitment for the 2025 Msc in Social Network Analysis is now open! A unique opportunity to train in theories, methods and applications of SNA, with new modules in crime and networks and Complex Social Systems and Simulation. Please help disseminating.
www.manchester.ac.uk/study/master...

MSc Social Network Analysis - course details (2025 entry) | The University of Manchester

Research. Teaching and learning. Social responsibility. Discover more about The University of Manchester here.

www.manchester.ac.uk

2