Nikolai Gad

Position: Research Fellow, Technical University of Munich
Categories: Mentors
Location: Abroad, Region Hovedstaden

Background

I am a political science researcher and educator with a strong interest in social data science methods. I have a PhD from the Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Civics at Newcastle University, and most recently I have worked as a research associate at the Technical University of Munich’s Hochshule für Politik. Among other things, I have developed a masters level course on Computational Methods for political science students, and I have supervised many masters theses that utilised social data science methods. My primary research interests revolve around the intersection of digital technologies and democracy. In particular, I do research on political participation, democratic innovations, and civic participation with an emphasis on the role of digital media in this context.

Motivation

I decided to join the DDSA mentoring programme because I have recently relocated to the Copenhagen area and would like to build connections with people here, who have an interest in social data science. One of the best parts of my job as a university researcher has been to supervise and teach talented students. I enjoy seeing the academic interests of my students develop and find great pleasure in being able to contribute to their career ambitions. So I am very interested in sharing my personal experiences and getting to know any mentees with an interest in social data science, especially if they are also interested in politics and democracy.

Skills, expertise, and interests

  • PhD advice
  • natural language processing (NLP)
  • career planning or change
  • data analytics
  • statistical and data modelling
  • data mining
  • social (data) science
  • text analysis
  • academic writing skills