Members of the Department of Social and Political Sciences apply their specialized training and skills, both as individual researchers and as multidisciplinary teams, to study a range of themes, problems and issues of contemporary relevance and scholarly concern. In the process, scholars investigate the genesis, development, stasis and processes of change in institutions, public policy, and social systems, as well as the agency of social, political, and economic actors.

The Department promotes and supports methodological pluralism and wide-ranging theoretical critique, it favours the adoption of different types of research protocols, and it acknowledges the added value for all scientific activities of a plurality of perspectives.

By adopting multiple and rigorous empirical approaches to research and by simultaneously promoting critique, the department aims to be a point of reference for cutting edge social and political ideas, research and policy recommendations in Italy and abroad. Each member of the Department, from doctoral students to professors, plays a vital role in this process.

The Department also encourages “applied” research, joining local, national and international institutions, associations, NGOs and companies as an independent academic partner