The European Consortium for Humanities Institutes and Centres is a university-based initiative to organise European Research Institutes, Humanities Faculties/Departments and Centres for the Humanities. The profile of the humanities in Europe today has become a contested space. This consortium rests on the double assumption that effective international and intra-European networking in defence of the humanities, on the one hand, and interdisciplinary research across the field of the humanities, on the other, can play a significant role in shaping this debate about the humanities today and offer workable alternatives to the renewal of the field. The consortium pursues the highest international standards of excellence with a spirit of innovation and exploration of new research areas, but also with an acute sense of the social and political relevance of the humanities in Europe today.
Aims
ECHIC pursues a threefold purpose:
- To speak up on behalf of members in dialogue with funding and policy-making bodies to canvass the need for humanities research; to speak on behalf of the humanities and develop a language for the (position of) humanities institutes in European universities today.
- To organise an annual European Conference for the Humanities at a member institution, which involves all the main partners, including funding and policy-making bodies at the European and the national levels.
- To establish a network across the EU to lobby for the humanities in Europe today; to prepare collaborative projects and activities and set up an effective networking system with other international networks in the humanities, such as CHCI and others.
International Networks
ECHIC is founding member of EASSH (European Alliance for Social Sciences and Humanities); partner of CHCI (Consortium of Humanities Centre and Institutes) and regional member of CIPSH (International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences)