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. 

Starting this year, in addition to papers and/or follow-up research proposals, the projects were asked to submit final papers describing the outcomes of the research projects. These papers are collected in these proceedings after having undergone a light reviewing process by the coordinators of the program. All papers are co-authored by the respective research assistants,  the supervisors and other contributors. They reflect the broad spectrum of interdisciplinary work associated with the networked world.