The UCLA Strategic Research Lab will hold a five-day intensive training in using the power of Python coding to simplify tasks for union research. The camp will be held from June 8-12, 2026, and applications will open in late February. 

Applications for Coding Bootcamp are now live!

The Coding Bootcamp is an intense and challenging experience! Come ready to jump feet first into a weeklong journey towards simplifying your work, discovering new data sources, and automating your most routine research tasks!

Key Training Topics:

• Python fundamentals
• Dynamically moving and combining multiple files
• Fuzzy matching different data sets
• Use APIs to bulk download data, such as open government data
• Scraping websites to collect data, such as:
  • property listings,
  • company information,
  • government data,
  • pdfs, and
  • data sets that cannot be downloaded directly
• Cleaning, merging, and deduplicating data  such as worker lists, property records, or company information
• Using text patterns to extract data

Who should apply

This course is designed for union or movement researchers that often encounter large amounts of data in the course of their work. The skills taught in this course will allow students to collect, process, and analyze data more efficiently and accurately.

This course does not cover topics such as databases (i.e. SQL), advanced data analysis (i.e. statistics and data modeling), machine learning, or extracting text from PDFs–these are advanced topics that cannot be covered in the time we have, but students will have a solid Python foundation and can work on self-teaching these topics after the course.

Prior coding experience is not required to attend this course. However, all accepted students must participate in a short, self-paced python pre-course. We will also cover Python fundamentals together in class. 

Advice From the 2025 Coding Bootcamp Cohort:

“You should definitely attend this program if you’re thinking about it! This program really helps make coding feel so much more accessible no matter how much experience you have coming in. I have learned so many different ways to use coding to make my work so much more efficient and comprehensive.”

“It is like drinking out of a firehouse. That’s just the way this sort of thing works. Keeping a good attitude and accepting that you will be challenged is extremely crucial to being successful.”

“I have learned so much and feel so much more capable in the work I do.”

Event Details:

• Dates: June 8-12, 2026
• Time: Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm
• Location: UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, Los Angeles
• Cost: $850 (includes training materials & refreshments)
• Meals: Not included, but local dining options are available

The Instructor: Mellissa Chang

Mellissa Chang (she/hers) is freelance campaign researcher and data engineer. She conducts data-informed campaign research and builds data tools for labor unions and non-profits. Prior to this, she was a research coordinator at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, where she tracked and analyzed eviction data and acquisitions to support tenant organizing campaigns around the country. During the pandemic, she closely tracked covid relief spending, identifying parent recipients and matching recipients to a database of federal regulatory violations, earning her the DC Femme Tech Award in 2021. Before entering the non-profit sphere, she worked as an airports campaign researcher at 32BJ. Mellissa holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. In her spare time, she builds automated mass transit systems in Minecraft.

Application details

This application includes a short diagnostic test. The results of this test are only used to help design the course and are NOT factored into your application assessment.

This course is rigorous and fast-paced. By applying to this course, you pledge to remain focused and engaged, and to ask for help when needed.

Applications close on March 21, 2026. Accepted candidates will be notified shortly after this deadline. Space is limited.

Email srl@irle.ucla.edu for more information or if you have any questions.

About The UCLA Strategic Research Lab:

The UCLA Strategic Research Lab is a capacity-building training hub and network for researchers from labor and community-based organizations. As a research unit of a public university, the SRL seeks to train strategic researchers for the common good. Besides the Coding Camp for Union Research, the Strategic Research Lab also holds its annual Strategic Labor Research Conference, one of the largest annual convenings of labor and movement researchers in the nation.

Sign up for email updates for other Strategic Research Lab events and trainings here.