Welcome to QuantLab
QuantLab is a network bringing together social scientists at the University of Melbourne and beyond to share insights in quantitative methods and research.
Co-founded by Seraphine F. Maerz (Political Science) and Irma Mooi-Reci (Sociology), QuantLab is an inclusive network that welcomes everyone — from students to established researchers — interested in learning about quantitative methods and computational techniques.
We offer hands-on seminars where you can learn cutting-edge methods, free online tutorials with step-by-step guides on data management and reproducible research, and a code repository with ready-to-use scripts in R, Stata, and Python (work in progress). Most importantly, we provide a space to connect with fellow students and researchers, share ideas as well as knowledge, and collaborate.
Schedule 2026
Our 2026 series focuses on AI for Social Sciences. We meet on the last Monday of each month, 12:00–13:00, at the Old Arts Atrium Meeting Room. Some of our events are kindly sponsored by the Melbourne Institute with lunch provided. Please RSVP to secure your spot.
| Date | Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 31/03/26 | Analysing Qualitative Data with Large Language Models (LLMs): From small, exploratory coding to large-scale yet in-depth qualitative analysis, with replicable workflows | Dr. Seraphine F. Maerz, SSPS |
| 28/04/26 | Upgrading Policy / Documentation Analysis with AI: Learn how to extract and process information from large policy databases efficiently using AI | Dr. Jan Kabatek, Melbourne Institute |
| 26/05/26 | Prototyping and Co-design with AI: Learn the process of fast-iterations and co-design with AI as a moment of data collection | Dr. Fabio Mattioli, SSPS |
| Semester Break | ||
| 28/07/26 | Upgrading Your Research Workflows with AI: Learn how to Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) large qualitative data using AI for improved efficiency and effectiveness | MDAP (TBC) |
| 25/08/26 | Synthetic Data for Social Science Research: Learn what synthetic data is, how closely they can represent the ‘true’ data and understand the ethical considerations | Prof. Irma Mooi-Reci, SSPS |
| 29/09/26 | Creating Your Own Chatbot: Learn how to set up your own Retrieve-Augment-Generate (RAG) Pipelines | Taylor Ey, Melbourne Institute |
| 27/10/26 | Forecasting with AI: Learn how to use AI for forecasting social and political phenomena, understand the differences between traditional forecasting methods and AI-based approaches | MDAP (TBC) |
Schedule 2025
We meet in Linkway, 4th floor John Medley Building.
| Date | Time | Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03/02/25 | 14:00-15:00 | Intro to Causal Inference and Treatment Effects | Dr. Chuck Huber, StataCorp LLC |
| 11/02/25 | 03:00-09:00 | Using AI for Text Analysis: An Introduction (online) | Dr. Seraphine F. Maerz |
| 18/02/25 | 10:00-16:00 | Using AI for Text Analysis: Advanced Applications (online) | Dr. Seraphine F. Maerz |
| 03/03/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Introduction to Version Control with Git | Prof. Michael Zyphur, Dr. Mar Quiroga |
| 20/03/25 | 09:30-12:30 | Partner Event: Get Started with R | MDAP |
| 31/03/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Regression Discontinuity Design | Dr. Amrita Mitra |
| 14/04/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Shut Up and Git | Dr. Tomasz Woźniak |
| 12/05/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Quantitative Text Analysis for Social Sciences | Dr. Maxim Ananyev |
| 26/05/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Python for Social Science Research | Dr. Daniel Russo-Batterham |
| 28/07/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Structural Modelling Using R (bsvars & bsvarSIGNs) | Dr. Tomasz Woźniak |
| 11/08/25 | 12:00-13:00 | Building Your Own RAG Pipeline from Scratch! | Taylor Ey |
Schedule 2024
We met in Arts West Research Lounge. Lunch was kindly sponsored by the School of Social and Political Science.
| Date | Time | Topic | Presenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05/08/24 | 11:30-13:00 | Launch of QuantLab Intro to R and Quarto | Seraphine F. Maerz, Irma Mooi-Reci |
| 26/08/24 | 12:00-13:00 | Using Stata for Panel Data | Irma Mooi-Reci |
| 09/09/24 | 12:00-13:00 | Spatial Econometrics: An Introduction | Ed Goldring |
| 10/09/24 | 10:00-11:30 | Introduction to Computational Social Science (online, Social Science Week) | Jason Thompson, MCDS |
| 07/10/24 | 10:00-16:00 | Quarto in RStudio (online) | Seraphine F. Maerz |
| 14/10/24 | 12:00-13:00 | Quantitative Text Analysis in R | Seraphine F. Maerz |
| 28/10/24 | 12:00-13:00 | Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in Stata | Harry Ganzeboom |
| 26/11/24 | 10:00-16:00 | Using AI for Text Analysis in R (online) | Seraphine F. Maerz |