Established in 1994 as a joint venture between the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the University of Birmingham, the Institute for German and European Studies is part of a network of centres around the world. Our research is cross-disciplinary, encompassing the culture, history, politics and economics of Germany and Europe.
We are based at the University of Birmingham as an interdisciplinary Institute within the College of Social Sciences and the College of Arts and Law. The institute brings together experts on Germany and Europe from a range of departments, including political science, modern languages, history and art history.
An important part of our mission is to support postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, and to bring them together with experienced scholars and international thinkers on Germany and Europe.
The IGES and the department of German Studies at the University of Birmingham are part of a DAAD-sponsored UK postgraduate training consortium, providing summer schools for postgraduates in German Studies together with the Universities of Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, and Oxford, and the IGRS in London.
The Institute is part of a global network of 20 centres, with sister organisations in the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, China, Japan, and Israel.