Onsite-only course
IMPRS-PHDS elective course on Sequence Analysis
Carla Rowold
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), June 22–23, 2026
Instructor:
Course description
Life course research has gained increasing prominence, and sequence analysis offers a versatile toolbox for describing and analyzing life course trajectories. Typical applications include identifying common trajectory types, comparing patterns across subgroups, and visualizing longitudinal processes. The method has therefore become widely used in empirical research. This course provides an overview of sequence analysis tools and their applications, including combinations with other statistical methods. A particular focus is placed on one of its most common uses: clustering similar sequences. Participants will be guided through the full workflow – from sequence definition and visualization to comparison, clustering, and validation of results. By the end of the course, they will be able to implement sequence analysis in their own research and understand methodological extensions and related tools. The course also includes time to discuss participants’ research ideas and questions.
Organization
The course will alternate lectures, discussions and hands-on sessions in R, with about five hours of teaching per day. On both days, the morning sessions will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the afternoon sessions from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Course prerequisites
Students are expected to bring their own laptops with the most recent version of R and an appropriate editor (e.g. Rstudio) installed. 2 No prior experience with R programming is required. However, the practical sessions will involve working directly with provided R scripts and adapting them. Participants should therefore already be able to open and run scripts, install packages, and make small modifications in the code independently.
Examination
Active participation in all sessions is required to earn the course certificate. No grades will be given beyond a pass/fail.
General readings
A list with additional references will be distributed to the participants. Slides and Rcode used in the lectures will be made accessible.
Tuition
There is no tuition fee for this course. IMPRS-PHDS offers to cover the travel and accommodation expenses for admitted IMPRS-PHDS students from the affiliated partner sites.
How to apply
A maximum of 20 students will be admitted to the course. Participation is restricted to IMPRS-PHDS students and MPIDR scientific staff (pre-docs and postdocs). If you would like to enroll for this course, please send an email to phds@demogr.mpg.de. Begin your email message with a statement saying that you apply for the IMPRS-PHDS elective course on Sequence Analysis. You must also include a statement of motivation (PDF) that includes the following.
- A paragraph about how your research relates to the topic of the course (half a page or less);
- A paragraph about how you meet the prerequisites for this course (half a page or less).
Application deadline is April 17, 2026.
Applicants will be informed of their acceptance by April 24, 2026.
Email inquiries about the course and the application process should be sent to phds@demogr.mpg.de.