This summer, I had the privilege of attending the 3rd COORDINATE Summer School, which focused on life course research and sequence analysis. As a PhD student in Economics at the University of Surrey, my research focuses on education and labour economics, particularly child development. The summer school provided an excellent opportunity to expand my data analysis skills, particularly in sequence analysis, which I applied to studying youth trajectories using the Catalan Youth Survey Dataset.
The combination of lectures and hands-on workshops allowed us to grasp both the theoretical framework of life course research and practical skills in R coding. Working with real data helped solidify my understanding of how life events and trajectories can be analysed over time, offering new insights into education and labour patterns.
What made this experience particularly enriching was the diverse environment, with participants from different academic backgrounds. This cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas broadened my perspective on how sequence analysis can be applied across fields beyond economics.
In conclusion, the COORDINATE Summer School significantly enhanced my methodological toolkit. The skills I gained in sequence analysis will directly benefit my PhD research, allowing me to analyse developmental pathways and labour market transitions more effectively. I am excited to incorporate these insights into my ongoing work.
Omer Sarigul
PhD student, University of Surrey
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