Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content
Portrait photo of Philip Leifeld

Philip Leifeld

Prof

 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6834-5705

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Prospective PhD students are encouraged to explore the research challenges on the Leifeld Lab homepage as possible entry points for initial collaboration: https://leifeld-lab.github.io/challenges.html

Personal profile

Overview

I am a Professor of Social Statistics in the Department of Social Statistics at the University of Manchester, which is part of the School of Social Sciences. I am also a member of the Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis and the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research. Before joining Manchester in April 2024, I was a Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Government at the University of Essex. I am also a DFG Mercator Fellow in the Research Training Group on Digital Platform Ecosystems at the University of Passau (2022-2027) and past chair (2024-2025) of the Political Networks Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA).

I am best known for my work on discourse network analysis (and the software Discourse Network Analyzer), the texreg R package, and my work on statistical models for longitudinal network data (e.g., implemented in the btergm R package).

My research has appeared in leading political science journals (e.g., AJPS, JOP, BJPS), public policy and administration journals (e.g., PSJ, JPART), technical journals (e.g., Physica A: Statistical Mechanics, Network Science, JStatSoft), and outlets in other fields (e.g., Nature Climate Change, Addiction, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin).

The Leifeld Lab develops statistical methods and research infrastructure for identifying, estimating, and stress-testing theoretically meaningful mechanisms in dynamic relational data arising from social and political processes. Our work focuses on settings where time, dependence, and measurement interact in ways that make standard network methods unreliable or misleading. While much of our applied work is motivated by problems in political science, the lab's primary contributions are methodological: models, estimators, diagnostics, and software that make inferential assumptions explicit and testable in complex relational settings.

Further information

Personal homepage: https://www.philipleifeld.com

Leifeld Lab homepage: https://leifeld-lab.github.io

External positions

President, Political Networks Section, American Political Science Association (APSA)

Oct 2024 → Sept 2025

Mercator Fellow, DFG Research Training Group 2720 "Digital Platform Ecosystems" (DPE), Universitat Passau

2022 → 2027

Areas of expertise

  • H Social Sciences (General)
  • HA Statistics
  • JA Political science (General)
  • JF Political institutions (General)

Research Highlights, Institutes and Platforms

  • Cathie Marsh Institute

Keywords

  • Network analysis
  • Networks
  • Complex systems
  • Politics
  • Policy
  • Institutions
  • Statistical inference
  • Governance
  • Political communication
  • Research design
  • Research methods
  • Programming
  • R
  • Java
  • C++
  • Statistics
  • Computational statistics

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  1. SDG 1 - No Poverty
    SDG 1 No Poverty
  2. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
  3. SDG 4 - Quality Education
    SDG 4 Quality Education
  4. SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
    SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
  5. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
    SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  6. SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
    SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
  7. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action
  8. SDG 15 - Life on Land
    SDG 15 Life on Land
  9. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics where Philip Leifeld is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
  • 1 Similar Profiles
View full fingerprint

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
Explore network further
View all 26 research outputs