About CEMES
The primary task of the Centre for Modern European Studies (CEMES) is to explore the profound transformation of the political, cultural and intellectual contours of Europe that has taken place over the last centuries. The centre will actively work to coordinate and develop research and education in European studies based on interdisciplinary collaboration between various departments, sections and researchers at the Faculty of Humanities at Copenhagen University. Read more about CEMES research.
Organisational structure
The backbone of CEMES is the group of researchers associated with CEMES and involved in the various research projects and activities linked to CEMES. The researchers have various fields of expertise, but are all joined in CEMES by their common interest in the field of European research.
Research groups
In order to ensure a multifaceted and active research network, CEMES has established five research groups, within which a variety of activities take place. The research groups focus on different complimentary aspects of Europe and European history that are central to the field of modern European studies. The groups are all open to participants, including both CEMES researchers and external researchers. In addition to the research groups, which organize a majority of CEMES' research activities, CEMES also provides funding opportunities for research activities independent of the research groups.
CEMES steering committee
CEMES is headed by a steering committee consisting of representatives from all participating Faculty of Humanity Departments:
- Communication
- English, Germanic and Romance Studies
- Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
- Saxo Institute
- Nordic Studies and Linguistics
- Arts and Cultural Studies
- Faculty of Theology
The Steering Committee is responsible for the overall administration of CEMES, including economy and the organisation of common activities.
Chair
Niklas Olsen
Associate Professor at the Saxo Institute
University of Copenhagen
nolsen@hum.ku.dk
Niklas Olsens profile
Niklas Olen specialises in twentieth century European intellectual history with a particular focus on political ideology, economic thought and academic culture. Since 2017, he has been Associate Professor in European history and Chair of Centre of Modern European Studies (CEMES) at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). He holds degrees in history from UCPH (MA) and the EUI (PhD). Moreover, he has studied at UCLA and been a visiting researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities at Essen.
He is currently in charge of the research project "Key Actors - Peopling the Neoliberal Economy', which is funded by the Danish Independent Research Fund and runs from September 2019 until September 2021. He is also part of the research project Neoliberalism in the Nordics, run by Professor Jenny Andersson (Uppsala University), and funded by the Swedish Riksbank until 2025.
Vice chair
Hans-Jörg Trenz
EURECO Professor
University of Copenhagen
trenz@hum.ku.dk
Hans-Jörg Trenz' profile
Hans-Jörg Trenz is professor in Modern European Studies with special reference to European media culture at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, Section for Film and Media Studies. In addition, he has special tasks and obligations for CEMES and EURECO.
Hans-Jörg Trenz, b. 1966, is a German citizen, but has since 2005 been professor at ARENA, the Centre for European Studies at University of Oslo, Norway. He studied sociology, criminology, romance languages and literature at the University of Saarland, Germany, University of Bari, Italy, and Central University of Barcelona Spain and obtained his degree in 1993. He took his PhD in social and political sciences at the European University Institute, Florence Italy with the dissertation Mobilising collective identities: public discourse on immigration in Germany and Portugal (1999) and his habilitation (professoral competence) at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany in 2004. Having lived and worked in many European countries, Hans-Jörg Trenz has good language skills in German, English, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
He has authored and edited seven books (one in Spanish, three in German and three in English) and published more than 60 articles. The large part of his publications deal with aspects of media and political communication in Europe applying a public sphere perspective to the process of European integration and analysing both print and new media. His writings also address questions of language, ethnicity, collective identity, civil society and democracy. Most recently he has co-authored the book The Politicization of Europe - Contesting the Constitution in the Mass Media together with Paul Statham.
Hans-Jörg Trenz has been involved in many interdisciplinary large scale European projects, and especially since 2003 he has been a partner in several EU Framework program research projects: ‘Organized Civil Society in Europe’ (FP5, 2003-2005), ‘CONNEX’ (FP6, 2004-2008), coordinator of the WP on ‘Public sphere and civil society’ under the FP6 project RECON (2007-2011) and ‘EUROPOLIS’ (FP7, 2008-2010)
Hans-Jörg Trenz is former chair of CEMES.
See his presentation at EURECO
Listen to his inaugural lecture
Saxo Institute (Saxo)
Niklas Olsen (Centre Chair) - nolsen@hum.ku.dk
Alternate: Morten Rasmussen - mortenra@hum.ku.dk
Communication (KOMM)
Hans-Jörg Trenz (Vice Chair) - trenz@hum.ku.dk
Alternate: Miklós Áron Sükösd - kjm518@hum.ku.dk
English, Germanic and Romance Studies (ENGEROM)
Anna Lena Sandberg - annas@hum.ku.dk
Alternate: Christian Benne - christian.benne@hum.ku.dk
Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies (TORS)
Krzysztof Stala - stala@hum.ku.dk
Alternate: tba
Nordic Studies and Linguistics (NORS)
Jan Rosiek - rosiek@hum.ku.dk
Alternate: Marianne Stidsen - stidsen@hum.ku.dk
Arts and Cultural Studies (IKK)
Bjarki Valtýsson - htx392@hum.ku.dk
Alternate: Michael Fjeldsøe - fjeldsoe@hum.ku.dk
Faculty of Theology
Tine Reeh - trr@teol.ku.dk
Alternate: Anna Vind - avind@teol.ku.dk
Participation by:
Centre coordinator
Haakon A. Ikonomou - ikonomou@hum.ku.dk
The CEMES secretariat
The CEMES secretariat supports the Steering Committee, the CEMES GRANT holders and the CEMES network with administrational tasks. The centre coordinator is Haakon A. Ikonomou (ikonomou@hum.ku.dk)
CEMES REPORT 2018-2019
We are happy to announce the launch of our CEMES REPORT 2018-2019, describing the many tasks and activities of our centre