5th Annual QCA Conference of the Americas

Building on the success of our first four conferences—from Houston to Los Angeles to Chicago to Baton Rouge—AQCA2026 took place in Cincinnati this year. Once again, it brought together our growing cross-disciplinary community of scholars and practitioners using and developing QCA and related configurational methods. Whether they were examining how multiple conditions combine to produce outcomes, exploring equifinality or grappling with issues of necessity and sufficiency, AQCA2026 offered kindred spirits and rigorous yet friendly feedback. Whether they were seasoned practitioners or were newly exploring configurational approaches, AQCA offered three days of lively discussion and learning, as well as the kind of community-building that has become a hallmark of AQA’s conferences. There were ample opportunities for socialising during coffee breaks, happy hours and meals.

Thank you to the organisers, Joanna, Claude, Gary and Peer, for a wonderful conference in Cincinnati! Special thanks to Joanna for being the organiser and local host this year!

From December 9 to 11, QCA enthusiasts gathered in Krakow, Poland, for the 13th EuropeanQCAConference2025 (formerly known as the International QCA Workshop). It was a successful conference with a PDW and an expert workshop. Thank you to the local organizers Anna Sławik, Seweryn Krupnik, Aleksandra Rudawska, and Esther Staes—you were fantastic!

Please note the various QCA courses this summer. The courses offer the opportunity to start with QCA or to deepen your knowledge.

For instance, Peer Fiss will be teaching a five-day QCA course as part of the Global School in Empirical Research Methods (GSERM). It will take place at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, from June 10-14, 2025. Information on the course can be found here. The goal of this workshop is to provide a ground-up introduction to crisp and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Participants will get intensive instruction and hands-on experience with the fsQCA software package and on completion should be prepared to design and execute research projects using the set-analytic approach.

The Konstanz Methods Excellence Workshop (komex) are organized by the University of Konstanz, in collaboration with the Methods Excellence Network (MethodsNET) and hosted by the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz. FInd out more: https://afww.uni-konstanz.de/en/komex/konstanz-methods-excellence-workshops

QCA enthusiasts will soon meet at the European QCA Conference 2024 (formerly the International QCA Workshop) in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Want to find out more? https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/current/events/european-qca-conference