Social sciences

The Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana (UL EF) is an institution with a long tradition in research and a rich pool of highly qualified and experienced researchers. Researchers carry out research, consultancy and education and training on a commercial basis for the most important Slovenian and international institutions. We integrate the results of our research, which represent new knowledge in the fields of economics, business science and business informatics, into business processes in all areas of economic activity.

The Faculty of Economics of UL carries out scientific research mainly in the following research areas:

• Competitiveness (competitiveness, innovation and sustainability)
• Leadership (leadership, knowledge management and work organisation)
• Supply chains and processes (management of business processes in organisations and supply chains)
• International business and trade (globalisation, trade and international financial markets).

Within the framework of the public service, funded through the Public Agency for Research Activities (ARRS), they carry out research programmes and projects, and are also involved in the University of Ljubljana's MRIC network of infrastructure centres. In addition, they are actively involved in programmes and projects funded by European and international funds.

Teachers, staff and researchers at the Faculty of Economics regularly publish in international scientific and professional journals, publish monographs with national and international publishers, and participate in scientific and professional conferences. Contributions include publications in the 45 top-ranked journals in the Financial Times and in leading journals in the fields covered by the School's research.

The Faculty of Economics of UL is the publisher of the Economic and Business Review, the leading Slovenian academic journal in the field of economics and business, which has been continuously published since 1950.

The Faculty organises more than 40 scientific research conferences and seminars annually. It also actively engages with the business community.

In addition to educating excellent legal professionals, the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana (UL PF) is also responsible for the development of legal science and law in Slovenia. Its staff and students are involved in legislative and social processes in the following ways:

• through research and consultancy work in the institutes operating at the Faculty or connected to it in one way or another;
• by participating in the drafting of legislation, where they seek to shape legislative texts in a professional manner through their in-depth and broad knowledge of specific areas;
• participation in professional meetings aimed at improving the skills of experts in various fields and exchanging views (cooperation with the Centre for Judicial Education and the Bar and Notary Chambers);
• commenting and explaining legal issues in the mass media.

The Faculty demonstrates its links with the community through participation in national and international law student competitions, the organisation of legal clinics (e.g. for refugees, for the environment), numerous excursions for students, guest lectures by national and international experts in various fields, and presentations by various legal professions.

The research work at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana, which was founded in 1961, is carried out in 20 research centres of the Institute of Social Sciences within the framework of research programmes, basic, applied and postdoctoral projects, as well as international, European Union and commercial projects. The most important clients of the research are mainly various ministries, non-economic companies and enterprises. FDV has the longest tradition of social science research and higher education teaching in Slovenia and is one of the largest social science faculties in Europe. In addition, it offers professional training and advanced training, as well as a wide range of practical skills to those who want to be and remain competitive in the market, in the fields of communication studies, management, political science including international relations and defence studies, sociology and cultural studies. The Institute of Social Sciences also houses the Social Science Data Archive, which is an important part of the scientific infrastructure and is the central research data centre in the social sciences in Slovenia.

The FDV, which stands out among the members of the University of Ljubljana in terms of the scope of its research activities, operates according to the principle that excellent research achievements are one of the cornerstones of the quality of an academic institution. It can rightly be described as a research faculty, where the teaching staff continuously transfer and integrate the latest research achievements, findings and knowledge into their courses and programmes at all levels. This transfer is enhanced by the many visiting scientists from all over the world who work at the Faculty every semester and by the numerous international conferences and summer schools organised by FDV researchers and teachers in cooperation with partners from abroad and with the help of economic and non-economic entities from Slovenia.

53 researchers and 127 educators carry out around 50 international and 45 national research projects and programmes annually, some of which have a long tradition, while the umbrella social science survey Slovenian Public Opinion is celebrating its enviable 50th anniversary. International projects include EU programmes such as Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, Human Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, Employment and Social Affairs, COST, Interreg and other projects of the European Structural Funds, Eurofound and Cedefop. Other international research projects and programmes include HERA, Norface, the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, and the Scientific Cooperation between Switzerland and Eastern European Countries - SCOPES. Research reflecting current and future societal challenges is carried out in the core social science disciplines of sociology and political science, as well as in a number of interdisciplinary fields of social informatics, methodology, social welfare, human resource management, spatial sociology, public opinion and mass communication, social psychology, strategy and governance, international relations, administrative-political processes and institutions, defence studies, social science terminology and journalism, marketing and public relations, social communication, culture and religion, and the study of science and comparative legal research.

Researchers at the Institute of Social Sciences publish their research results and findings in a number of internationally renowned publishing houses. The Institute and its centres publish the major international scientific journals Javnost/The Public and Journal of International Relations and Development, which are included and indexed in relevant databases of scientific publications, citations and abstracts, including the Web of Science and the Social Science Citation Index). TheJournal of International Relations and Development is the only Slovenian journal published by the global publishing house Palgrave Macmillan. The FDV also publishes the journal Theory and Practice.

The global publication of research results and findings also contributes to better citation of researchers in international scientific journals and monographs. Teachers and researchers are among the most cited researchers in various fields of social sciences in Slovenia.

The Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana (UL PEF) conducts research in the social sciences and humanities in the form of basic and applied projects, targeted research projects and, since 2003, research programmes. The broad spectrum of the Faculty's research areas is evident from the projects and activities of all the Faculty's research centres and institutes, where current knowledge transfers are also taking place, namely:

• Institute for Scientific Research,
• Centre for Educational Policy Studies (CEPS),
• International Centre for Educational Policy Studies of the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Education (m-CEPS),
• Centre for Continuing Education and Training (CNIU),
• Centre for Research and Promotion of Giftedness (CRSN),
• Centre for Discrete Mathematics, Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana (CDM UL PeF).

In addition to the centres and institutes, the Faculty of Education is linked to educational institutions in the fields of education, health, rehabilitation, social welfare, through cooperation and the organisation of teaching practice for students of study programmes.

The Faculty of Education also hosts associations with which the staff collaborates and involves both students and external stakeholders.

Over the past decades, the Faculty of Social Work of the University of Ljubljana (UL FSD) has carried out more than 100 basic, targeted research, postdoctoral, EU, other international and other research and development projects. In addition to the theory and concepts of social work, the main topics of research have been voluntary work, community work, group work, evaluation methods, and concrete evaluations of social work procedures and programmes and social work management. Specific topics addressed were drugs, mental health, disability, housing and domestic violence, minorities, the elderly and the working poor. The faculty has been involved in the planning of NGO community services in the field of social welfare, especially in the area of women's issues (housing groups, safe houses, camps), in the development of intermediate forms (housing groups, safe houses, camps), family work, street work, youth clubs, social skills training, individual planning and financing and other community approaches.

Since 2004, the Faculty has also been running a research programme on Social Work as a vehicle for processes of social inclusion and social justice in Slovenia (theoretical foundations, methodological and methodological orientations and historical development).

Current research and development projects of the Faculty of Social Work

Archive of research and development projects of the Faculty of Social Work

In the framework of its research activities, the Faculty cooperates with a number of associations and other non-governmental organisations, as well as with various public organisations, in particular social work centres, but also with social institutions, hospitals, employment services, etc.
The Faculty cooperates with a number of research and higher education institutions and other organisations from abroad. It is involved in European programmes promoting inter-university education and research.

The Faculty of Administration at the University of Ljubljana (UL FU) is an interdisciplinary source of knowledge for the administration, which is ensured through research, networking with national and international practice, and the transfer of knowledge into education, consultancy and training.

The Research Centre and the Research Institute study economic-financial, administrative-legal and information-organisational phenomena, processes and practices.

Researchers' work focuses on:

• the development of administrative science and the profession,
• the translation of research achievements and findings into practice and into the teaching process,
• the development of individual research potential,
• linking the theory of administrative science to the practice of its implementation, and contributing to the continuing training of civil servants after graduation,
• public sector phenomena, processes and practices.

The Faculty cooperates with numerous research, higher education institutions and other organisations at home and abroad, and is an organiser and co-organiser of numerous national and international scientific meetings, seminars and conferences.

The Faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana (UL FŠ) provides research and services to the economy and society at large. It cooperates with sports equipment manufacturers in the design and testing of sports equipment for the needs of top-level sport and sport for all; it actively cooperates with the Slovenian Olympic Committee, individual sports federations, clubs and individuals and groups involved in recreational sport.

It provides sports diagnostics and counselling, as well as a wide range of preventive activities. The Faculty's teachers and researchers are also involved in environmental factors (so-called engineering) that directly affect humans, in the fields of physiology, anatomy, psychology and biomechanics. Movement and healthy people through sporting activities are of particular importance, as they have a positive impact on work performance and cost reduction in society. The Faculty also organises and organises major sporting and trade fair events.

Areas of the Faculty of Sport with partners from the business and non-economic sectors:

• Multidisciplinary research, measurement and consultancy in support of the development of athletes aimed at quality and elite sport (physiology, biodynamics, kinesiology, biomechanics, motor behaviour and control, diagnosis of physical and motor development, psychology, sports medicine diagnostics and nutrition).
• Workers' fitness monitoring (workplace measurements, workplace diagnostics and nutrition).

Target partners: the Slovenian Olympic Committee - Association of Sports Federations, National Branch Sports Federations, sports clubs and other organisations and individuals as promoters of cooperation in quality and top-level sport, companies and institutions.

• Sports Diagnostic Centre.

The Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana is one of the founding members of the University of Ljubljana. It educates students and produces top-quality, open-minded and critical thinkers in the humanities and social sciences, as well as in the education of teachers in these fields. It pays special attention to strengthening the disciplines of national importance, which co-create the Slovenian identity. It integrates scientific knowledge into the study process by building on traditions to create a new quality, essential for Slovenian self-awareness and for the Faculty's creative presence in the international arena.

Scientific research is another core activity of the Faculty. The Scientific Research Institute of the Faculty of Arts (ZIFF) is the organisational unit that organises and coordinates the scientific research work at the Faculty. The Institute brings together about 450 researchers and manages about 100 national and international projects annually. The Institute's research is recognised in Slovenia and internationally and represents fundamental and applied research in:

Humanities: anthropology, archaeology, ethnology, philosophy, geography, linguistics, cultural studies, literature, musicology, art history and historiography, and social sciences: information science and librarianship, psychology, sociology, education and education.

The Faculty of Arts Scientific Publishing House publishes the latest research achievements in the humanities and social sciences, which are brought together by the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. With about 70 new titles per year, our publishing house is among the largest scientific publishing houses in the humanities and social sciences in the country and thus makes an important contribution to the dissemination of scientific research and teaching work and the visibility of the Faculty of Arts. The Scientific Research Institute publishes scientific monographs in its own collection Razprave FF.

• Research programmes and projects
• Research achievements
• Contact ZIFF