At some point in my life during doctoral studies, I felt that I wanted to stay in academia. At the same time, however, I also felt that I needed a more profound understanding of empirical data analysis to be able to succeed in that profession. Hence, I joined ESS for four years in a row from 2009 until 2012 and attended a range of classes including fundamentals in regression, panel data analysis and multilevel analysis. More or less all academic projects I have been working on ever since are based on what I learned at ESS… I look back at my time at ESS with gratitude: In 2016, I was appointed full professor and I would not have achieved this without ESS. THANK YOU!