This volume contains the proceedings of the 2018/2019 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.
Each of the projects resulted in a research paper reporting on the research questions, methods and main findings. These papers are collected in these proceedings after having undergone a light reviewing process by the coordinators of the program. The 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.