Go back

Social Sciences & Humanities

Working Group

Chair: Ilaria Poggiolini

Ilaria Poggiolini is Chair Professor of International History and former Pro-Chancellor for International Relations at the University of Pavia. She is a member of the teaching staff of the University’s Doctorate Programme in History and of the Committee for the publication of Italian Diplomatic Documents (Italian MFA, Rome) and Associate of Italian Studies at Oxford. She is WP Co-Leader for the EC2U Aliance. She has recently published a book reassessing the history of Britain in and out of the EC/EU. She teaches in Italian and in English: History of International Relations, European integration and Public Diplomacy.

Vice Chair: Balázs Apor

Dr Balázs Apor is associate professor in European Studies in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies at Trinity College Dublin. His research interests include the Sovietisation of Eastern Europe after World War II and the cultic veneration of communist leaders. Most recently, his work focuses on the legacies of communism and cultural forms of opposition in post-communist Hungary. He is founder and Director of the Trinity Centre for Resistance Studies at Trinity College Dublin.

Working Group Focus

The Coimbra Group Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Working Group (WG) will continue its focus on tasks and activities related to research and education, as well as outreach and visibility. Its primary objective will be to support the SSH research initiatives of member universities. To achieve this, the WG will organize seminars and conferences and, building on the insights gained from these events, the WG aims to develop successful research proposals for international funding bodies, such as EU funding bodies. Previously, the multidisciplinary requirements of EU calls have posed challenges for SSH scholars. Therefore, the WG will emphasize a multidisciplinary research approach and highlight the collaborative nature of SSH to tackle this issue.

Additionally, the WG will disseminate information on timely research funding opportunities across member universities and participate in the CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment) Working Group “Evaluating SSH research globally”.

Thirdly, the SSH WG will serve as an overarching and coordinating structure in the research and educational domains of SSH within the framework of the European Universities Alliances Initiative. Consequently, the WG will act as a liaison between different working groups (self-steering committees/virtual institutes, etc.) from Alliances associated with the Coimbra Group.

Priorities for 2025-2026

  • The SSH WG will soon see a change in leadership, consequently to the organisation of Chair elections at the next WG meeting scheduled on 10 June 2025 at the University of Bologna, at the CG 2025 Annual Conference. The WG priorities for 2025-2026 shall therefore be discussed, updated and agreed among WG members on that occasion.
  • The current priorities are as follows:
  • Organising at least one international conference and publishing the proceedings.
  • Looking into general themes and specific calls in which SSH research undertaken at CG Universities might find success. Prior work on funding proposals has been conducted, in connection to meetings and conferences.
  • Exploring, mapping and planning future inter-European University Alliances activities.
  • Stressing the role of SSH for postgraduate and doctoral education and increase our levels of collaboration with other CG representatives at the home universities, if possible via Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs). We will use BIPs for intra-CG cooperation on postgrad and doctoral levels.

Recent highlights since June 2024

  • Call for papers (link) and organisation of Inter- European Universities Alliances Conference “Debating Transnational Solidarity. Multidisciplinary interpretations and projections on future scenarios“, 19-20 March 2025, University of Pavia.
  • Call for papers (link) and organisation of International Conference “Old Cities, Former Capitals and the Nation-State Building in Europe (18th-20th centuries): regional and national identities”, 19-21 November 2024, Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași.
  • Call for Papers on “AI currents and European Universities” (link), September 2024.

Ongoing/forthcoming activities 2025-2026

  • The SSH WG will soon see a change in leadership, consequently to the organisation of Chair elections at the next WG meeting scheduled on 10 June 2025. The WG activities for 2025-2026 shall therefore be discussed, updated and agreed among WG members on that occasion. The current planned activities are as follows:
  • Participation in the CoARA WG “Evaluating SSH research globally”.
  • SSH conference “Thinking between/beyond languages” (Fall 2025, host university tbd).
  • Conference “Concept of solidarity in Europe – a transdisciplinary approach” (Fall 2025 or Spring 2026, University of Pavia).

Contact person at the CG Office: Emmanuelle Gardan (gardan@coimbra-group.eu)