EASSH members

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences enjoys a prominent standing within the social sciences sector in Europe and is the largest educational and research institution in the social and behavioural sciences in Europe.

Our research and education address societal and human behaviour related themes from the following disciplines:

• Child Development and Education
• Communication
• Psychology
• Social Sciences (Anthropology, Human Geography, Planning & International Development Studies, Political Science, Sociology)

The Faculty offers a large number of programmes and courses to ca. 8,000 students from the Netherlands and abroad, at both graduate and undergraduate levels.

Our focus at The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities is on major societal challenges, public services and innovation, growth and jobs, and cultural and societal dynamics. With this focus, we contribute to creating good conditions for our society to navigate and make decisions.

Scholars at The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities disseminate their expert knowledge and qualify the public debate on current issues relating to society, nationally and internationally. The climate crisis, integration problems, poor well-being among children and young people, pressure on the healthcare system, digital transformation and other complex challenges place new demands on both basic research and research with an application-oriented aim.

The faculty's distinctive features are basic and applied research of a high international quality within the social sciences and humanities as well as the research intersection between the two academic areas. Our mission-oriented and interdisciplinary approach enables us to create breakthroughs, ideas and method tools that can help ensure a sustainable (global) society and learning in the 21st century.

The International Federation of Associations of Classical Studies (FIEC) is an umbrella organization that covers most associations of classical studies of national importance around the world. Its aim is to foster cooperation among classical scholars by disseminating information among affiliated associations, enabling direct contact between Delegates, informing governmental authorities on the importance of classical studies. It also contributes to the support of classical studies on all continents, and more generally takes any apropriate action that will help to sustain classical studies at an international level.

Every five years, FIEC holds an International Congress which gathers scholars from all parts of the world and from all sub-fields of classical studies ; this is coupled with a General Assembly of Delegates ; another General Assembly of Delegates is held once between congresses.

FORS is the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences. We implement large-scale national and international surveys, offer data and research information services to researchers and academic institutions, and conduct methodological and thematic research. FORS is financed by the Federal Government (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI), by contributions from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and by the University of Lausanne.

Our strategic priorities are the following:

• Data and consulting services for social science researchers and research institutions in Switzerland

This includes data collections as part of the national and international social science infrastructure and services on a mandate basis supporting the entire data life cycle of social science projects in Switzerland.

• Providing tools for the national and international information infrastructure

We acquire, document, preserve and disseminate high quality quantitative and qualitative data and research information in conformity with national and international standards.

• Doing research related to methodological and thematic research

Thanks to its own research activities, FORS is an integral part of the social science research community in Switzerland. To fulfil its key mission, FORS participates in academic research in two main fields: thematic and methodological research.

In Belgium, Ghent University has been a pioneer in its strategy for quality enhancement and impact of SSH research since 2012. Supportive measures included a structural investment in interdisciplinary research consortia in the fields of culture & heritage, psychology, global studies, criminology and economics.

In 2018-2019, the university reinforced its efforts, leveraging these consortia towards even more ambitious interdisciplinary collaborations and societal impact. Next, UGent funded a university-wide roll-out of the initiative. There now exist ten competitively selected Interdisciplinary Consortia for Societal Impact (IDC), covering a wide variety of disciplines in SSH and STEMM, and breaking down traditional barriers inside academia as well as with stakeholders.

The Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities promotes a new interdisciplinary research culture nationally and internationally. We are building a new, interdisciplinary research culture that creates the conditions for new research openings and promotes the renewal of content and methodology in the SSH research areas. Our goal is to be among the five best scientific institutes in Europe in our field by 2030.

The Institute is a joint unit of the Faculty of Arts, Educational Sciences, Law, Theology and Social Sciences, as well as the Swedish School of Social Sciences (SSKH), the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (HCAS) and the Doctoral School in Humanities and Social Sciences (HYMY).

The Insititutes' tasks:

• Strengthen the research collaboration in the social sciences and humanities to generate new multidisciplinary research projects
• Coordinate the efficient use of research infrastructures
• Promote the scientific and social impact of social sciences and humanities research nationally and internationally
• Long-term development of research methods and the utilization of digital data
• Improve researchers' access to external research funding – specifically from international sources.

HERA – Humanities in the European Research Area – is a network of 26 Humanities Research Funders from 25 countries across Europe. The network’s mission is to promote and support European arts and humanities research through research funding, collaboration and advocacy.

HERA is committed to the view that historical, cultural, artistic and philosophical knowledge is indispensable for understanding humanity’s past, for dealing with the key societal challenges of the present, and for imagining possible futures. HERA supports the methods of reflective critique, transnational collaboration and interdisciplinarity and is dedicated to building relationships among humanities researchers across Europe and enabling the widespread sharing of knowledge and expertise.

HERA is also committed to bringing arts and humanities research into productive dialogue with policymakers, industry and the wider public. With the objective of firmly establishing the humanities in the European Research Area and in the European Commission Framework Programmes, HERA, with co-funding from the European Commission, has developed and implemented four rounds of transnational humanities calls for proposals to date.

Humanistica est l’association francophone des humanités numériques/digitales. Elle cherche à réunir autour d’actions communes toutes les personnes intéressées par le mouvement des digital humanities telles qu’elles peuvent s’exercer et se penser en langue française.

Humanistica is the French-speaking digital humanities association. It seeks to unite all those interested in the digital humanities movement around common actions that can be practiced and thought of in the French language.

Humtank is a think tank for research and education in the humanities created by a unique collaboration between faculties of humanities at originally twelve and, from the autumn of 2017, fifteen Swedish universities. The purpose is to strengthen and enhance the role of the humanities both within and outside academic institutions. We also want to explain to the public the relevance and sustainability of the humanities in society as a whole.

We operate on a broad front and participate in public debate with the aim of establishing a humanities-oriented research policy and a fairer distribution of educational resources, as well as changing the public's perception of and attitudes towards the humanities.

The Irish Humanities Alliance (IHA) was formed in September 2013. It is a joint initiative of Humanities researchers within eleven higher education and research institutions, including all of the universities, North and South, Dublin Institute of Technology and the Royal Irish Academy.

The Alliance is working to generate public awareness of the importance of humanities teaching and research in higher education and society at large. It is concerned also to inform and shape public policy in both jurisdictions and in the EU.

The Alliance has established working groups to address the main areas of strategy which impinge on the roles of the humanities in education and research today. Through these it will aim to engage productively with policymakers and funders in the wider interests of the university systems in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Institute for Social Research is an independent research institute in Oslo. The Institute for Social Research is organised as a foundation and has, since its establishment in 1950, played a vital role in the development of Norwegian social research.

The main research topics of the institute are: working life, media and the public sphere, gender equality, migration and integration, civil society, elections and democracy, and welfare.

The Institute of Social Sciences (ICS – Instituto de Ciências Sociais) is a graduate school and research unit of the University of Lisbon. Its mission is based on a unique combination of top-quality fundamental research, advanced training and societal outreach via policy-relevant science and dissemination. 

This is achieved through support to ground-breaking, curiosity-driven projects and plural, robust theoretical and methodological approaches; a collaborative work environment, sustained by 7 Research Groups and their networks and partnerships; a commitment to post-graduate teaching and research training of young scholars in the main fields of the social sciences and history; reliable infrastructural drivers that strengthen the institutional capacity for original knowledge production and consistent societal impact; a commitment to science-society dialogue, knowledge transfer and a strong relationship between research and policy development.

The backbone of the research agenda - Changing Societies, Legacies and Challenges - is critical thinking on the conditions that shape contemporary societies and their processes of change, which result from both short-term external shocks and longstanding inner structural dynamics. Research expands across 3 intertwined thematic axes – Inclusion, Citizenship, Sustainability – which underpin ICS’ interdisciplinary agenda.

The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a global Humanities and Social Sciences institute and a knowledge exchange platform that supports with programmes which engage Asian and other international partners.

IIAS aims to contribute to a better and more integrated understanding of present-day Asian realities as well as to rethink 'Asian Studies' in a changing global context. 

IIAS takes a thematic and multisectoral approach to the study of Asia and actively involves scholars and experts from different disciplines and regions in its activities. IIAS thus acts as a global mediator, bringing together academic and non-academic actors. Its current thematic research clusters are Asian Heritages, Asian Cities, and Global Asia.

The activities of these clusters are all built around the notion of social agency and address questions relevant to present-day Asian societies, while paying attention to their cultural and historical contexts.

The Institute was established in 1993 by the Dutch Ministry of Education, originally as a joint cooperation between the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and three Dutch universities. It was established with the objective to encourage the interdisciplinary study of Asia and to promote national and international cooperation.

Today, IIAS is based at Leiden University, where it works as a globally oriented interdisciplinary institute with strong connections throughout the Netherlands, Europe, Asia and beyond. IIAS also acts as Secretariat for the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) and the European Alliance for Asian Studies (EAAS).

KU Leuven is an international community where innovative research forms the basis of all our academic programmes. Across the university, driven researchers and curious students continually gain new insights and use their knowledge to tackle the foremost challenges of our time.

KU Leuven will celebrate its 600^th anniversary in 2025, making it one of Europe’s oldest universities. Our institution has the double honour of being the oldest university in the Low Countries and the oldest extant Catholic university in the world.

Today, KU Leuven accommodates 50,000 students, spread across the various campuses in Leuven and elsewhere in Flanders. The University and University Hospitals Leuven each employ almost 10,000 people. For research, KU Leuven ranks among the world’s finest. KU Leuven has become a cosmopolitan institution in a rapidly changing urban environment. Its unique profile reconciles cutting-edge science with quality of life and openness to talent.

KU Leuven is dedicated to education and research in nearly all fields. Its fifteen faculties offer classes and degree-granting academic programmes, whilst research activities are organised by departments and research groups. These faculties and departments are clustered into three thematic groups: Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), and Biomedical Sciences. Each of these groups sponsors its own doctoral school for organising and awarding doctoral degrees.

KU Leuven boasts thirteen campuses, spread across 10 cities in Flanders.

Maastricht University is the most international university in the Netherlands and, with 18,000 students and 4,400 employees, is still growing. The university stands out for its innovative education model, international character and multidisciplinary approach to research and education.

Thanks to its high-quality research and study programmes as well as a strong focus on social engagement, UM has quickly built up a solid reputation. Today it is considered one of the best young universities in the world.