The Work Interaction and Technology Group is holding an Advanced Summer Institute providing practical guidance for researchers interested in the use of video to analyse social interaction in any domain (incl. health, technology, public places, organisations, etc.). It is designed for doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career faculty.

Video provides unique opportunities for social science research, enabling the fine‐grained analysis of social order, occupational practice, communication and the use of tools and technologies. Video recordings are an endless trove of potentially meaningful elements and cues, confronting researchers with questions of how best to generate observations and insights. This presents obstinate challenges for researchers in collecting high quality data; analysing multimodal activities that include verbal, bodily and material conduct; and presenting complex analyses to audiences who may be less familiar with video data.

This Advanced Summer Institute offers solutions to each of these common problems using a distinctive approach based in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA); an approach to which the Work, Interaction & Technology group at King’s College London is a major contributor.

The two‐day course will provide insights on:

• How to gain access to settings in order to collect video data, particularly in sensitive domains
• How to collect robust and context-sensitive video data
• How to use transcriptions to aid the development of an analysis of materiality and embodied conduct
• How to develop an analysis from a data corpus to identify and pursue key phenomena that can both offer academic contributions and have practical outcomes
• How to present analyses of complex embodied social interaction for talks and publications

Fees

A £375 fee, which includes refreshments and dinner, will be payable for the programme. 

Format

The course will be structured around a series of talks and ‘data sessions’, in which participants will collaboratively discuss and analyse video data. The course tutors Prof. Jon Hindmarsh, Prof. Paul Luff, Dr Sylvaine Tuncer and Prof. Dirk vom Lehn, have extensive experience of video-based research and have published a key text on the subject.

You will take part in in-depth, interactive data analysis sessions with faculty and peers. These interactive sessions are organised to provide ample opportunities for feedback and discussion with faculty and peers. If possible you will bring video data you have collected or are using in your research project.

Preparation

No preparation work is expected. If possible, you should bring one or two short video fragments and their transcripts for collective discussion.

Certificate of Attendance

You will receive a certificate of attendance for the course, but no ECTS credits can be awarded.

Application Process

You can apply through this online form by April 4^th, 2026. To ensure meaningful discussions, we will accept a maximum of 24 participants. Selection will be based on your project and its fit with the studied approach and methods. Decisions will be announced by April 24^th. A full programme will be communicated  before the course.