Academic year 2025-2026
Our academic year starts with the September Programme (for 1st-year researchers) and is then divided into three terms:
First term: October- December 2025
Seminars resume on 29 September 2025 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations in Osiris open at the end of August and close end of September.
Second term: January - March 2026
Seminars resume on 5 January 2026 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations in Osiris open mid-October and close mid-December.
Third term: April - June 2026
* All workshops grant 10 credits - The registrations will open by the end of February
September Programme
The SPS September programme, which is intended for incoming 1st year researchers, consists of Accademia Fiesolana and three preparatory workshops.
Accademia Fiesolana is the SPS Department’s introductory department seminar. Its objective is for first-year researchers to become familiar with the research done in the SPS department. It consists of seminar meetings in which the faculty members of the department introduce their research. There is also a session showcasing the department’s pluralism, in which two very different theoretical and methodological approaches to the same topic – identity – are brought together.
The Preparatory workshops are voluntary but recommended. The objectives of the three workshops are to prepare researchers for courses offered later in the programme and to brush up on some basic skills that researchers may need during their studies. They are offered as intensive courses over one week.
Block 1
Accademia Fiesolana (Compulsory for all first-year researchers). No credits.
Date: 12 – 19 September 2025
No registration required
Contact: Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Block 2
Preparatory workshops (Recommended for all first-year researchers) No credits.
Dates: from 22-26 September 2025
Register here
Contact: Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
10:00 – 12:00 Mathematics for Political and Social Scientists
13:00 – 15:00 Introduction to R
15:00 – 17:00 Basics of Qualitative Research: Philosophy and Ethics, Interviews and Ethnography
Contact: Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
First term: October - December 2025
* Seminars resume on 29 September 2025 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations in Osiris open at the end of August and close end of September.
Second term: January - March 2026
Seminars resume on 5 January 2026 (unless otherwise specified). Registrations in Osiris open mid-October and close mid-December.
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Dependent development? De-centring Europe’s transitions
Professor: Waltraud Schelkle, Corinna Unger, HEC
Contact: Olena.Shcherbatiuk@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Europe in the world (on a fortnightly basis)
(This seminar takes place in the 1st and 2nd term)
Professor: Stephanie Hofmann
Contact: Sofia.Altesini@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Identities, Interactions, and Institutions across Place and Time
Professor: Valentina Di Stasio, Léa Pessin
Contact: Claudia.Fanti@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Life Courses and Inequality: Education, labor markets, family and health
Professor: Herman G. van de Werfhorst, Juho Härkönen
Contact: Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Philosophies of Social Science
Professor: Jeffrey T. Checkel
Contact: Pia.Dittmar@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Political culture
Professor: Elias Dinas
Contact: Pia.Dittmar@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Politics and IR of the Middle East
Professor: Raffaella A. Del Sarto
Contact: Claudia.Fanti@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Power
Professor: Stefano Guzzini
Contact: Sofia.Altesini@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Professionalisation Seminar (compulsory for first-year researchers, once per month, NO CREDITS
(This seminar takes place in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd term)
Professor: Filip Kostelka
Contact: Monika.Rzemieniecka@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Replicating Research in Political Science
Professor: Simon Hix
Contact: Olena.Shcherbatiuk@eui.eu
Seminar Outline / Syllabus: Reviewing and Publishing (on fortnightly basis)
(This seminar takes place in the 1st and 2nd term)
Professor: Stephanie Hofmann
Contact: Sofia.Altesini@eui.eu
Prospectus workshop
Dates: 14 January + 25 February TBC
Professor: Anton Hemerijck, Simon Hix
Contact: Olena.Shcherbatiuk@eui.eu
Third term: April - June 2025
The registrations will be open by the end of January
Useful information for researchers:
FIELD SEMINARS:
Field seminars - there are four: “Sociology”, “International Relations”, “Comparative Politics”, ”Public Policy and Institutions”. Each researcher must follow and pass at least one field seminar of their choice in the first year of studies.
METHODS SEMINARS
Methods seminars - Each researcher must attend and pass the following seminars during the first two years of the doctoral programme: 1) either "Introduction to Quantitative Methods", or "Intermediate Quantitative Methods", or "Statistics and Econometrics" 1 taught in the Economics department, and 2) either "Introduction to Qualitative Methods" or "Intermediate Qualitative Methods
RESEARCH SEMINARS:
Research seminars (=non-methods, non-field) are more focused on specific, cutting- edge topics within a given substantive research area.
WORKSHOPS
Workshops - are shorter in duration than seminars and are concentrated in a few days (typically, two or three days). They usually take place in the third term and are mostly devoted to research methods.
Full attendance in the seminars and workshops, together with any other requirements specified by the professor teaching the seminar, is necessary in order to be awarded credits. One full seminar or masterclass counts for 20 hours, Workshops give 10 (10-hour workshops) or 20 (20-hour workshop) credits
For any more information on the requirements please check the SPS researchers' guide.
You must take either Introduction to Quantitative Methods or Intermediate Quantitative Methods (depending on your previous quantitative methods training) during the first two years of the doctoral programme.
Likewise, you must take either Introduction to Qualitative Methods or Intermediate Qualitative Methods (depending on your previous quantitative methods training) during the first two years of the doctoral programme.
In addition, researchers must take one of the four field seminars ("Sociology”, “Comparative Politics”, “Public Policy and Institutions”, “International Relations”) during their first year First-year researchers must attend the monthly Professionalisation Seminar.