Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS)

The Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung – IOS) is one of the largest and longest-established institutions of its kind in Germany. IOS is organized as a non-university research institution. It brings historical, economic and other social science expertise to bear on interdisciplinary research fields that are oriented towards transnational and comparative perspectives. The focus lies especially on Southeast Europe and the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Another focus of the Institute is its provision of infrastructure services for research. These include the supervision and publication of academic journals, book series, working papers and handbooks, as well as a specialized library (with more than 320,000 media items) and comprehensive electronic services (including specialist databases and research portals). The Institute’s research activities, and the associated services, are carried out in close cooperation with partners in Germany and abroad. 

A further field of work is the support of young scholars by means of the supervision of doctoral and post-doctoral candidates. The IOS is member of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, which is funded as part of the German Excellence Initiative and organized by the LMU Munich and the University of Regensburg. In addition, IOS staff teach various courses at universities in Germany and abroad. 

Of central importance to the IOS is its international orientation. The Institute has its own program for guest scholars and hosts scholarship holders from other institutions. Through its organization of numerous scholarly events it helps to advance academic debate internationally. 

The IOS is one of the four component institutions of the Research Centre for East and Southeast Europe in Regensburg (Wissenschaftszentrum Ost- und Südosteuropa Regensburg – WiOS). As an affiliate institute, it cooperates closely at different levels with the University of Regensburg. 

You can also keep yourself informed about current developments at the IOS via the Institute’s Facebook page, ist newsletter and ostBLOG.