SSN PRESENTATION

A European Network

SocialSciencesNet (SSN) is funded by the European Commission within the framework of the 5th Framework Programme (Improving Human Potential Programme, Enhancing Access to Research Infrastructures) from December 2000 through December 2002.

A Network of Social Science Research Infrastructures

SSN is a network of research infrastructures in the social sciences aimed at promoting the mobility and access of researchers and information throughout the European Union (including both member and candidate countries).

Overview of Network’s Membership

Core Members

The current network is made up of a core of 8 member institutions which can be classified into two general categories:

Institutions with research experience, established expertise, important libraries, facilities and services, which host permanent, long-term (five to ten years) or short-term (one to four years) research groups in the social sciences and the humanities. These institutions also welcome a substantial number of foreign visiting scholars each year and place emphasis on comparative and interdisciplinary approaches as well as international and pluri-disciplinary co-operation.
Institutions which function as Institutes for Advanced Studies. These centres of excellence host temporary research groups and individual scholars, concentrating on the study of designated fields of interests and bringing together fellows from different disciplinary and cultural backgrounds.

Extended Relations

This configuration of 8 members is only the inner circle of a much wider network, consisting of the existing working connections of each member. In this way, the SSN is able to associate institutions which are not formally members of the network, namely in regions not currently represented in the network at this time (i.e. Southern Europe, the United Kingdom, other countries in Central Europe, etc.).

Network Organization

Given the short duration (two years) and its limited budget, the SSN will organise its own work in essentially two different ways :

through a series of commonly-organised general meetings, workshops, reports and short-term missions;
by strengthening already established co-operation practices concerning the implementation of common projects, the solving of individual or group problems to access, the integration of users in others infrastructures or networks, and the development of specific infrastructures in the social sciences.

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