Preface

This volume contains the proceedings of the 2017/2018 edition of the Academy Assistant program organized by the Network Institute of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (http://networkinstitute.org/research/academy-assistants/). With this program the Network Institute aims to interest bright young master students for conducting scientific research and pursuing an academic career. The program brings together scientists from different disciplines; every project combines methods & themes from informatics, social sciences and/or humanities. For each project, two student research assistants with different research backgrounds work together. The projects result in papers and/or research proposals. The program started in 2010 with 4 projects funded by the KNAW