SoWEPS (Southern Workshop in Empirical Political Science) is an annual workshop that brings together scholars in the Southeastern region that use rigorous, creative empirical methods to study important topics in political science.
SoWEPS-11 will be hosted in person by Duke University on October 29-30, 2026.
Inspired by other small regional ‘working group’ style meetings like NEWEPS, CaliWEPS, CAPERS, our structure is designed to encourage repeat participation, graduate student involvement, reading ahead and detailed constructive feedback. The inaugural SoWEPS-1 meeting was hosted by Emory University in 2019, SoWEPS-2 was hosted virtually by Duke University, SoWEPS-3 was hosted virtually by the University of Georgia and Florida State University, SoWEPS-4 was hosted virtually by Auburn and Vanderbilt, SoWEPS-5 was hosted by Rice University, SoWEPS-6 was hosted by Vanderbilt and SoWEPS-7 was hosted by Emory University, SoWEPS-8 was hosted by the University of Kentucky, SoWEPS-9 was hosted by Tulane University and SoWEPS-10 was hosted by Florida State University.
Faculty and graduate students from universities based in the Southeast (broadly defined) are welcome to join. If you are interested in receiving announcements on upcoming conferences, please join the mailing list here.
SoWEPS is chaired by Natalia Bueno and Renard Sexton; feel free to contact them with questions or if interested in hosting a future edition of the meeting.