Priority research areas

Main research directions:

Innovative and Inclusive Governance for Societal Sustainability:

• social processes in Latvia, in the fields of international relations, security, innovative and inclusive governance, diaspora, migration, integration, media ecosystem, media literacy and information literacy, digital literacy, and data literacy;.

Media Ecosystem:

• Communication processes in society – media environment, media technologies, media literacy, disinformation, media diversity, culture, communication of collective memory, gender and equality issues and their communication;

Interaction of the Individual, Information and Technology:

• Information literacy, information technologies, information practices, human-centred information services, information systems;

Functioning and Transformation of Democratic Governance:

• Challenges to the development of democratic governance in contemporary contexts – COVID-19, geopolitics;

Innovative and Inclusive Governance:

• Aspects of state resilience and policy design and implementation in the context of public participation at all levels of governance;

Social Inequality and Sustainable Social Inclusion:

• Aspects of social inequality related to social, political and economic risks; processes of social and economic transformation in the social inclusion of marginalized groups.

Nature and Society:

• Interaction between society and nature from the perspective of social sciences, with particular emphasis on the management of natural and social resources and the creation of public goods;

Diaspora, Migration and Integration:

• Migration processes, flows, nature and consequences for both sending and receiving societies; migrant integration; research on the Latvian diaspora.

Contact:
Director of the Institute of Social and Political Studies
Prof. Aija Zobena
E-mail: aija.zobena@lu.lv

Main research directions and responsible persons:

• Econometrics, Statistics and Mathematical Economics (Prof. Signe Bāliņa);
• Macroeconomics and Economic Policy (Prof. Sandra Jēkabsone);
• Economic Informatics (Assoc. Prof. Uldis Rozevskis);
• International Economics, Globalisation and Integration, Human Development (Prof. Baiba Šavriņa);
• Regulation of International Investment Environment and Competition (Assist. Prof. Inese Kalniņa)
• Intercultural Business Relations, Social Capital, Behavioural and Experimental Economics (Assoc. Prof. Ilona Baumane-Vītoliņa);
• History of World Economy, History of Economic Theories, Economic Anthropology;
• Tourism and Hospitality Management (Assoc. Prof. Ilze Medne).

Contact:
Head of the Department of Economics
Prof. Ērika Šumilo
E-mail: erika.sumilo@lu.lv