GSC 1019: Graduate School of Decision Sciences

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Decision making is the cornerstone of the social sciences. The processes that drive human behaviour are fundamental, not only for individual choices and personal well-being, but they are of foremost importance for our understanding of human interactions and, hence, for the organisation of society as a whole. The social science disciplines, notably economics, political science, psychology and sociology, are all based on distinct and often conflicting assumptions about human behaviour. In fact, there are frequent discrepancies between the behavioural assumptions in social science modelling approaches and the findings of experimental studies. At the same time, many of the important social issues, such as education, discrimination, migration or inequality, are analysed in several disciplines separately. For a comprehensive understanding of decision making and its consequences for economic and political outcomes, a multidisciplinary research approach is, therefore, essential. The Graduate School of Decision Sciences offers an ideal training and research environment for doctoral students concerned with questions about decision making and its application to important social science problems. It focusses on economics, political science and psychology, but also includes researchers from the complementary disciplines computer science, sociology and statistics. The Graduate School concentrates on four interdisciplinary research areas, between which several cross-connections exist: (1) behavioural decision making, (2) intertemporal choice and markets, (3) political decisions and institutions, (4) information processing and statistical analysis. A broad set of courses and seminars, as well as an open and communicative academic environment, provide ideal conditions to guide doctoral students to scientific excellence and international visibility. The Masters programmes of the participating disciplines enable fast entry to the Graduate School through a Graduate School Fast Track. Doctoral students benefit from our connections to network partners and from targeted career preparation.