NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

The National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) was founded in 1959 under the auspices of UNESCO and it is a public law legal entity supervised by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs. Research at EKKE focuses, amongst others, on social policy, political science and sociology, human geography and social anthropology. EKKE assists the state and other public authorities in the design and evaluation of public policies at a regional and local level. It maintains and expands international cooperation by participating in research networks, European research projects and networks of experts.

EKKE has developed a large infrastructure in order to support its research and academic activities. It maintains one of the biggest social science libraries in the country, which contains about 40.000 book titles and almost 350 journal titles. In addition, EKKE produces both print and free access publications which concern contemporary research approaches and analyses of Greek society. A large number of publications are used as teaching material by various Greek Universities. The Centre also publishes one of the longer standing peer reviewed social sciences journals in Greece, the Greek Review of Social Research.    

Aiming at promoting and disseminating the social sciences, EKKE has developed and supported infrastructures such as the following:

• The Greek Research Infrastructure for social sciences (http://sodanet.gr/), where exchange, processing and dissemination of research data is promoted.
• The Panorama of Greek Census Data (https://panorama.statistics.gr/), which allows for easier access and analysis of national census data.
• Open Social Data (http://www.socioscope.gr/), which is a platform of visual analysis and mapping representation of data which concern a variety of aspects found in Greek society such as political confrontation, poverty, social exclusion and deviance.

There are 5 specialized Laboratories and 3 Observatories operating at EKKE:

• The Web Lab specializes on conducting quantitative research in order to support the Centre’s overall academic and research activities.
• The Laboratory for Monitoring Social Cohesion Policies, produces thematic bases which contain statistical data and annotated bibliography, aiming at assisting researchers and students of the social sciences.
• The Laboratory on Gender studies gender policies and gender relations.
• The Laboratory of Methodology and Research on Crimeτο – WORK_ON_CRIME focuses on collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data on crime, training students on how to conduct research on criminology and organizing educational and academic seminars.
• The Laboratory of Public Policy focuses on studying the design, implementation and evaluation of various public policies at a European, national, and local contexts.
• The Observatory on Combating Discrimination aims at generating indices for inclusion and also at examining pathways of inclusion by individuals and groups which experience discrimination.
• The Social Economy Observatory aims at further developing the field of studies around the field of social economy and at studying the dynamics and relative advantages of the sector in order to counter the impact of contemporary types of inequality and exclusion.
• Finally, the Observatory of Thermal Facilities has a large database concerning the size and development of thermal tourism.

Social research as a public good is imperative in contemporary society and EKKE contributes by aiming at further developing Greek research and technology, through participating in international funding and research, smart specialization and membership of international and European bodies and organizations.

Institutes

Institute of Social Research (ΙΚΕ)

Contact Details

National Centre for Social Research (ΕΚΚΕ)

Address: Kratinou 9 & Athinas str.

Postal Code: 10552

Τel: (+30) 210 7491678- 210 7491636

Fax: (+30) 210 7489130

Email: president@ekke.gr

Website: www.ekke.gr