ESRS Summer School 2026

The Summer School organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Rīga Stradiņš University offers participants the opportunity to develop research skills and explore the social dimensions of rural area digitalization, using an interdisciplinary approach.

About the Summer School

Digital technologies are increasingly influencing how services are provided, resources are managed, and the future is planned in rural areas. From artificial intelligence to digital platforms and data-based governance tools, technologies are often presented as a pathway to more resilient and sustainable rural development. At the same time, digital transformation can also create new challenges – intensify inequalities, change local traditions, and cause tensions between technological solutions and social realities.

For researchers working with issues of change in rural areas, this creates both many opportunities and uncertainties. The aim of the ESRS Summer School is to help participants better navigate the current situation by supporting critical evaluation of the opportunities and limitations provided by digitalization, as well as developing research approaches that take into account the social dimensions of digitalization.

The aim of the Summer School

The ESRS Doctoral Summer School 2026 invites doctoral students and early-career researchers to critically evaluate the social, methodological and governance aspects of rural area digitalization from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The programme covers issues in sociology, geography, as well as policy, innovation and digital research, with the aim of addressing common challenges related to the study of digital transformation in rural areas. This will include questions about how qualitative research results can be made relevant in a broader context, rather than only in the study of individual cases, how digital practices can be studied using research methods such as digital ethnography, and how digitalisation is influenced by multi-stakeholder involvement and the policy environment.

Participants will be invited to develop their research ideas in dialogue with colleagues and mentors, focusing on topics such as transparency in qualitative research, the transferability of research results, and the social consequences of digital transformation in rural areas.

Practical information

The 2026 summer school will take place from 6 to 10 July in Riga, at 9c Kuldīgas Street, at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Rīga Stradiņš University.

Participation in the summer school is free of charge. Accommodation and lunch costs during the training will be covered by the organisers.

Participants are responsible for arranging and covering their own travel expenses to and from Riga.