The IEG's Research Agenda: Aims and Forms of Work 

The purpose of the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) is to conduct academic research on European history. The Institute fulfils this purpose through the individual and joint research efforts of its staff, by funding and supporting international scholars, by cooperation at both national and international levels and by the transfer of its research findings both within academia and to society at large.

In line with its charter, the Leibniz Institute of European History implements these research tasks and forms of work in a comprehensive framework of scholarship and other activities. In light of the manifold challenges facing Europe today, the IEG works to obtain rigorously researched insights into the foundations of social and religious co-existence by exploring the long-term forces at work in a perspective reaching from the early modern era into the present. The IEG conceives of Europe as a space of knowledge, experience and action that was and remains defined by cross-border developments within the continent and by worldwide, often asymmetrical interconnections. From its leading position in digital historical research and in research data management, the IEG gives sustainable and innovative support to the methodical transformation in historical scholarship. The international fellowship and scholarship programme combines research, support and networking, strengthening the IEG’s position as a knowledge hub in historical research on Europe.

“Society”, “religion”  together with “digitality” – and, in perspective, “environment” – will form the principal foci of the IEG’s research. The connection between these areas is maintained above all by the Europe Forum. Historical research on Europe in its cross-border and global interdependencies thus captures key processes that have had an impact in the past and continue to do so today. With a view to questions of social cohesion, religious plurality, climate change and digital transformation, they bring the insights of rigorous historical scholarship to bear on European options for action and their limits as well as suggesting alternative paths.

The research projects at the IEG jointly illuminate enduring issues from a long-term perspective. They deal with changes, ruptures and continuities and address memory and the use to which pasts are put. They are organised on a European basis, taking into account relationships and taking a comparative view of interactions on a local, regional, national, international and global level. By incorporating digital processes, historical methods are continuously expanded and conceptually developed. Scholars working at the IEG draw on their projects to contribute to the fields of society, religion and digitality. They also participate in the overarching activities and debates in the Europe Forum.