Founding history

 

After the strategic focus on "Southeast Europe" had already been established at the University of Graz in 2000, the Centre for Southeast European Studies was founded in November 2008 as the "Competence Centre Southeast Europe". In March 2012, the Competence Centre Southeast Europe was renamed the Centre for Southeast European Studies. The Centre for Southeast European Studies is an interdisciplinary and inter-faculty institution of the university with a focus on contemporary Southeast European research and teaching. In October 2011, Prof. Dr Florian Bieber took over the management of the Centre from its founder Prof. Dr Joseph Marko.

The Centre has been running the Joint Master in Southeast European Studies since 2011 and the PhD in Law and Politics since 2015, as well as the ARQUS Master in European Studies since 2023.

Through the organisation of international conferences and workshops, such as Debating the End of Yugoslavia (2011), the ASN European Conference: Nationalism in Times of Uncertainty (2018), and numerous lectures and seminar series, the centre has developed into an important location for Southeast European research. To make Southeast Europe accessible to a broader public, the Centre regularly organises public lectures and discussion events on current topics.

Since 2014, the Centre has published the book series "Southeast European Studies" with Routledge and the open access journal "Contemporary Southeastern Europe".

Since its foundation, the Centre has been involved in numerous third-party funded projects, including projects funded by Horizon Europe (and predecessor programmes), the Volkswagen Foundation, the Nomis Foundation, as well as Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellows and a Jean Monnet Chair and participation in Jean Monnet networks. As part of the Visiting Fellow Programme, the Centre has hosted over 100 researchers since 2012.

The Centre has been involved in the university's "Dimensions of Europe" profile area since 2019.